A Different Future
by Lady Sabine of Macayhill
Summary: The Dursleys decide to not keep Harry Potter and leave him on the steps of a church. A wizarding Gypsy couple adopts him, giving him the name of Alexander Romanov, and making him the twin brother to their daughter. Things change from there. Please r&r.
1. A New Family

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. It belongs to the wonderful author J.K. Rowling.

Summary: A family of wizarding Gypsies adopt Harry Potter when the Dursleys end up not wanting him. They give him the name of Alexander Romanov and hide his identity from the rest of the wizarding world.

Anastasia Romanov, Ana for short, was taking the her usual early morning walk, when she saw a car come to a stop at the church a short distance away. She paused as a beefy-looking man got out of the car and left a bundle on the doorstep of the church. Her brows raised, she hurried forward to find out what was going on.

Before the man could get in his car and drive away, she called, "Sir, what are you doing?"

The man turned, a startled look on his face. "Er-er-" he stuttered. A faint cry interrupted him and Anastasia stepped to the church doorsteps to find that the bundle was actually a baby boy swaddled in a blanket.

She whirled around to glare at the man. "How can you just abandon a baby like that?"

"He was just left on my doorstep!" snapped the man. "Nobody even asked if me or my wife if we wanted him! Besides, we've got a son of our own to raise and haven't the time or money to spare to look after another child, especially one that's going to turn out to be a freak."

Ana frowned. "Fine then. My family will take the child in, if you don't want him. Now go before I change my mind about turning you in to the authorities."

The man quickly got into his car and drove away. She picked up the baby and headed for her house, wondering if she should take him to an orphanage instead. Raising what was likely a Muggle child in a wizarding household, even one that was familiar with the Muggle world, wasn't exactly the wisest of choices. She glanced at the baby again and gasped when she noticed a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. "That means you're a wizard after all! And the most famous one in Britain! Oh dear." She quickened her pace.

Once home, she explained the situation to her husband, Stephan. "So the man must have been a relative," he mused. "A Muggle one, since Lily Potter was a Muggleborn, and probably one that hates magic. You're right, Ana, we have to take Harry Potter in. We'll raise him as our own son."

"But how are we to go about doing this?" asked Ana. "There are Death Eaters that escaped being arrested, and while the Dark Lord is defeated, he's not necessarily dead. You know I predicted his downfall, but that it would only be temporary and he would return to power one day until he's vanquished permanently. Harry needs to be protected, and will also need to be trained. After all, if the Dark Lord went after him when he's just a toddler, then he'll go after Harry again once he returns to power."

"First of all, we'll give Harry a different name," replied Stephan. "Then you can brew an adoption potion so that he will look more like us. I will add to the wards on the house. We will tell our daughter that she has a new brother. It's a good thing Elisabeth's the same age as him and doesn't need to have her memory modified or anything."

After some further discussion, they decided to rename Harry Potter as Alexander Jacob Romanov, Alex for short, and moved his birthday to August 3rd, which was Beth's birthday, in order to make it appear that the two were twins. After feeding him, changing his nappy, and putting him down for a nap, Stephan went to work on the wards while Ana started brewing the Adoption Potion.

By the time Harry, or rather Alex, woke up, the potion was complete, except for one thing. Ana added a drop of blood each from her, Stephan, and Beth to it, stirred it five times, and then gave Alex two spoonfuls, followed by some milk to take out the taste. After a few minutes, the changes started taking affect. While his hair was still black, it was now neater. His eyes turned from emerald green to the lighter shade of green that Stephan had, while the shape was Ana's. Finally, his skin tone turned a bit darker, as if he was tanned, and the rest of his features matched his adopted sister's, except in a masculine mold.

During the next week, Alex settled in the Romanov household. He gradually accepted Ana and Stephan as his parents once he stopped crying for his real ones. He also cried for two people that he called 'unca paddy' and 'unca mooey'. 'Unca' was obviously baby-talk for 'uncle', but it was unclear who 'paddy' and 'mooey' were baby-talk for, though the Romanovs surmised that it was probably friends of James and Lily Potter. However, the only two people they knew of that had been friends with the Potters were Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. Unfortunately, the former was in Azkaban for alledgedly betraying the Potters to Voldemort, and the latter was dead from his confrontation with the former.

After some further search, Remus Lupin and Frank and Alice Longbottom were also discovered to have been friends with the Potters. The Longbottoms couldn't be contacted, as they had just been recently been tortured into insanity by Death Eaters looking for the whereabouts of their master. Remus, however, was still alive and well, though in a state of grief over the deaths of his friends, and after some consideration, the Romanovs decided to contact him and let him in on the secret.

"It's a good thing you adopted him," said Remus once everything had been explained. "From what Lily said, I gather his life with his relatives wouldn't have been that great. Apparently Lily's sister and her husband hate magic and anything else they consider abnormal. Though in the sister's case, the hate seems to stem from jealousy over the fact that Lily was a witch."

He then explained about the Marauders and their nicknames, which was what Alex had called his 'uncles' by. The Romanovs had no problem with the fact that Remus was a werewolf, and told him that he could visit whenever he wanted. Mrs. Romanov, an accomplished Potions mistress, also volunteered to supply him with the newly invented Wolfsbane Potion every month. "That's very kind of you, Ana, but I can't accept," protested Remus. "The Wolfsbane Potion costs money, which I don't have much of at the moment."

"You can pay for it by doing babysitting for Alex and Beth," said Mrs. Romanov matter-of-factly. "I have potions to brew, and it does get frustrating having to stop in the middle of my work to change nappies or feed a child. Stephen can't be around all the time, either, as he has work of his own that needs to be done."

"And when the two are older, you can pay by becoming their tutor," added Mr. Romanov. "There will be some things that Ana and I will exclusively teach them, such as Potions and certain spellwork and our history, but you can teach them how to read and write and about maths and other such things."

"All right then," responded Remus. "I accept." In the end it was decided that he might as well just live with the Romanovs in order to better help look after Alex and Beth. In return for being essentially the live-in babysitter and later tutor, he was given room and board, ten Galleons a month, and the Wolfsbane Potion. The Romanovs tried to offer him a higher salary, but he refused, insisting that he didn't have very many needs and being provided with room and board and the potion was more than enough for him. When it was the full moon, he would be shut up in a shed on the property to avoid any mishaps.

With that, Remus moved in, and so Harry Potter's life as Alex Romanov began.


	2. A Day in the Life

Author's Note: Thank you to all the people that reviewed the first chapter, and/or put this story on their favorites or alerts list. Harry Potter will be known as Alexander Romanov, Alex for short, in all future chapters, unless I forget and accidentally use Harry. I forgot to mention it in the first chapter, but Alex also has adoptive grandparents, who have been sworn to secrecy about his real identity. In answer to anonymous reviewer Johnny Boy's questions, I will have Draco look down on Harry/Alex, but Ron won't. While some people don't like Ron, and I can understand why, I am not one of those people, so Ron is going to be in fic as a friend to Harry/Alex. His scar is hidden with a special cream that is applied once a month. The adoption potion is permanent. Alex will be told who he really is and have everything explained before he starts Hogwarts. He will be an orthodox magic user, but he will learn some magic that only Gypsies use, mainly wandless spells. Ana Romanov has the abilities of a Seer, and this is the entire contents of her prediction: "The Dark Lord will be defeated one day. However, it is not permanent, and thirteen years after his defeat, he will return. Dark times will occur, but the one who defeated him before will eventually vanquish him for good." Since Harry/Alex defeated him, it is clear to the Romanovs that he will have to do so again, and while he will have a happy and normal childhood, he will also be prepared to face Voldemort.

Alex fidgeted slightly as he read chapter twelve of his history textbook. Normally he enjoyed history, especially Gypsy history, but it was a beautiful day outside and he was itching to go flying on the Comet One Fifty that he had just gotten for his eighth birthday three days ago. Fortunately he only had one page left to read, and since he was a fast reader, that would only take two minutes. After another five minutes answering the ten questions that Remus would ask him to be certain he had read the chapter and retained the information, he would be free to go flying until five o'clock, when he and Beth would help their grandmothers make dinner.

Next to him, Beth got up and handed Remus the slate with the answers to the math problems she had been assigned to do. Whenever the twins had to write out an assignment that wasn't an essay, they used slates in order to save on parchment and paper. Just as Alex finished reading his assigned chapter, Remus announced, "You got all ten questions correct, Beth. Good work." Beth grinned and then waited while Remus began quizzing Alex on what he had just read.

When he was done, Remus said, "Good work, Alex. All right, you and Beth are free to play now."

"Race you upstairs!" shouted Beth as she dashed out the kitchen at a run.

"No fair, you got a head start!" protested Alex as he ran after her. Remus shook his head at their antics, but smiled also. Harry Potter, or rather Alex, was having a very normal childhood, at least normal for a wizard, anyway. His adoptive parents and extended family loved him, he got along well with his adoptive sister and cousins, except for the occasional arguments that all children usually had with each other, and he liked "Uncle" Remus and mostly enjoyed the lessons he got.

A minute later, Alex and Beth ran downstairs with their brooms and Flooed to their paternal grandparents' house. Grandmum Lisel was in the kitchen when they arrived and greeted them. "Good afternoon, dears," she said in slightly accented English. Though she had been living in Britain since 1947, she hadn't completly lost her accent. "Neville and your cousins Cara and David just arrived a couple of minutes ago and he's waiting in the back yard for you."

"Thanks, Grandmum," said Alex. He and Beth hugged her and then ran outside.

Their paternal grandparents happened to live near the Longbottom ancestral home, and as a result, the 'twins' had met Neville Longbottom and become friends with him. Twice a week he joined them in Herbology lessons. He was very good with plants, both in tending them and knowing about their properties, and often helped the twins and their cousins with it.

Neville was sitting at the picnic table, a plate of biscuits, five glasses, and a pitcher of lemonade on the table, and his Shooting Star lying on the grass next to him. He wasn't as confident flying as the twins, and preferred to still use a broom that didn't go very fast. Still, he had come a long way from when the three had first become friends. Alex had been good enough at flying that his parents had allowed him to ride a real broom, and not a training or toy one, when he turned six. Not long after that, Neville's grandmother had given him permission to finally learn how to fly. Alex had given his friend his training broom to learn how to fly on. Neville had been rather nervous at first, but thanks to Mr. Romanov and Alex's coaching, he had learned, and had become good enough to be gifted with a Shooting Star on his seventh birthday.

Cara was sitting on the grass, polishing the handle of her broom, and dressed in her summer outfit of a shirt and shorts. Her dark brown hair was cut short. She was a year older than Neville and the 'twins' and a tomboy, never wearing dresses except when her mother forced her into one for some special occasion. David was two years younger than his sister and rather mischievous. He had a penchant for pranks, like the twins Fred and George Weasley, who lived in Ottery St. Catchpole near David and Cara. Alex and Beth were friends with the Weasley twins' younger brother and sister, Ron and Ginny, and also with Luna Lovegood, who lived in the area as well.

After exchanging greetings and having some biscuits and lemonade, the five of them took off on their brooms. They flew around for half an hour, making sure not to fly too high, partly because their respective parents and guardians wouldn't let them and partly to keep any Muggles from the nearby town from spotting them. After that, they played a game of catch with a Quaffle, which then evolved to Cara playing Keeper while the others tried to score goals.

At five o'clock, Neville went home while the others went inside to help with dinner, as it was being held at their paternal grandparents' house that night. Gypsy clans were rather close, and for the Romanovs and their extended family, this manifested as all of them having dinner together every evening. Except for the weekends, it was hosted at a different house every night. On Mondays it was at the maternal grandparents, Tuesdays at the paternal ones, Wednesdays at Aunt Maria and Uncle Tobias, (Ana's sister and Stephan's brother), Thursdays at Uncle Nikolas and Aunt Sarah (Ana's side), and Fridays at Beth and Alex's home. On the weekends they went out to eat or (in good weather) had picnics.

By six o'clock, the rest of the family, plus Remus and Fiona McGilray, the tutor (and Squib) that worked for Uncle Nikolas's family, had arrived. All the cousins set the large table in the dining room, while Grandmum Lise, Granny Ilsa, and Aunt Sarah brought out the food. Alex took a seat between Beth and his cousin Jonas, who was the youngest at six. Once everybody was seated, Granddad Vladek said a short grace and then food was served. As everyone ate, the adults discussed how their day had been and asked the seven children about theirs. Vera, the oldest of them, was starting Hogwarts that year and was very excited about it. She told her cousins all about her trip to Diagon Alley that day, and showed off her wand of cherry, eleven inches, and with a dragon heartstring core.

After dinner, the kids cleared the table and Ana and Aunt Maria washed the dishes with magic. Not long after that, everyone Flooed back to their respective homes. Alex spent the next hour reading _Wind in the Willows_, which he had gotten for his birthday, until he had to get ready for bed.

Next chapter: Alex and Beth turn eleven and get their Hogwarts letters. That evening, they and their cousins are gathered and told about Alex being adopted and how he is really Harry Potter. Alex decides to not reveal himself and the cousins are sworn to secrecy, while Remus tells him some stuff about Lily and James Potter. The next day, Alex and Beth go to Diagon Alley for their Hogwarts supplies.


	3. A Birthday and Revelations

Summary: Harry/Alex and Beth celebrate their eleventh birthday and they and their cousins are told about Alex's true identity. The trip to Diagon Alley follows, where they find the wizarding world in an uproar since Harry Potter has apparently gone missing as he's not living with his relatives as everyone thought.

"Wake up, Alex!" shouted Beth loudly in her brother's ear.

Alex jerked awake and sat up, an annoyed look on his face as he glanced at the clock on the bedside dresser. "It's only fifteen past seven and you know we're allowed to sleep in until eight on weekends and the summer, Beth."

"Well, it's August third," retorted Beth. "Our birthday. And there's something else. I was downstairs a minute ago and these arrived for us." She held up two envelopes.

Alex forgot to be annoyed as he exclaimed in delight, "You mean our Hogwarts letters arrived?" He lept out of bed and snatched one of the letters. It wasn't until he had opened the envelope and unfolded the letter inside that he realized that he had grabbed his sister's by mistake. He handed her the letter and envelope and grabbed his,

Beth smirked in amusement as he opened his letter. "Did your head get unscrewed this morning? Or do you need to ask Mum for a Memory Potion, Alex?"

"Oh shut up, Beth," snapped Alex. "It's not like you never became excited before that you've made mistakes." He skimmed the letter and saw that it was exactly the same as the ones his older cousins had gotten, except for the name. Then he glanced through the booklist and saw that it was identical also, except for the book assigned for Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Get dressed and brush your teeth and everything," ordered Beth. "Uncle Remus and Mum are making our birthday breakfast right now, and Dad says we can go to Diagon Alley to get our school things tomorrow. And don't forget about our party this afternoon, Beth, or I'll really ask Mum to give you a Memory Potion."

Alex let his sister's teasing pass and merely went to the bathroom connected between their bedrooms to take a shower and brush his teeth. Half an hour later, he went downstairs to the kitchen, dressed in a green shirt that matched his eyes and white shorts. Beth was wearing a white shirt and a pale green skirt.

"Good morning and Happy Birthday, Alex," said Mrs. Romanov, pausing from flipping chocolate chip pancakes to kiss her son on the cheek and hug him.

"Thanks Mum," said Alex, returning the hug and kiss. His father ruffled his hair and wished him a happy birthday as well. Remus did the same and handed him a plate with a small stack of pancakes and two strips of bacon and a glass of orange juice.

"Thank you, Uncle Remus." Alex took plate and glass to the table and sat down. He poured syrup on his pancakes and dug in, for chocolate chip pancakes were his favorite breakfast food.

After breakfast, he and Beth helped their mother make the birthday cakes, chocolate with vanilla frosting for him and vanilla with whipped cream frosting and strawberries for Beth. At ten o'clock, they Flooed to Aunt Maria's house, where the party was being held as she had the biggest yard. Ron, Ginny, and the Weasley twins were already there, and a minute later Neville arrived by Floo. A few minutes after that, Luna showed up, having walked from her house since it was nearby. Cedric Diggory, a friend of Cara's and on friendly terms with Beth and Alex, also came. The rest of the cousins turned up not long after that, and two teams were formed for a Quidditch game, since there were fourteen kids.

Alex was captain of one team and chose Ron for Keeper, Ginny, Neville, and Vera for Chasers, and his cousins Jonas and Ivan for beaters. Beth was the other captain and chose Cara for Keeper, Cedric for Seeker, Fred and George for beaters, and Luna and David for Chasers. All the balls were spelled not to leave the playing area so that none of them would escape and perhaps be found by a Muggle in Ottery St. Catchpole.

Though Fred and George were the better beaters, Ginny was a better Chaser, except against Beth, who was equally good. Alex, who was best at playing Seeker, spotted the Snitch before Cedric, and despite not having quite as good a broom, caught it first, winning the game for his team. The teams then played another game, and this time Beth's team won, for although Cedric and Alex spotted the Snitch at the same time, Cedric caught it first due to his faster broom.

After that, they had lunch, followed by the two birthday cakes and presents. Alex got a snowy owl from his maternal grandparents, a journal and quill from his paternal grandparents, a Potions book from his mother, and a Defense book from his father. His cousins and sister had given him sweets and various Muggle books and Remus and Fiona had given him a set of green dress robes and a Snitch. Fred and George had given him some prank items, Neville a Herbology book, Ron and Ginny a box of sweets, Luna a book on obscure magical creatures, and Cedric a pair of Seeker gloves. Beth had gotten identical presents, except her pet was a kneazle/cat crossbreed obtained from a Squib friend of Fiona's that breed cats and kneazles, the titles of her books were different, and the gloves Cedric gave were for a Chaser. Their aunts and uncles would give them their presents that evening, since they had work and couldn't come to the party.

The kids then played Exploding Snap and Gobstones until four o'clock, which was when the party ended. The Weasleys, Luna, Neville, and Cedric went home. Ana and Stephan cleaned up, while the grandmothers went inside to make dinner.

When the aunts and uncles arrived, they handed Beth and Alex their presents. Beth's presents consisted of jewelry and hair clips, while Alex's consisted of a watch and a Quidditch book. Dinner was served not long after that, and Alex noticed that the adults kept glancing at him while they were eating. When it ended, Aunt Maria asked, "Could everyone please remain seated? There is something important that we adults have to tell you, er, younger guys, and it involves Alex, which must be kept a secret unless he says otherwise."

Alex looked confused, while Beth and his cousins all turned to look at him. Ana Romanov cleared her throat. "This is going to come as a shock to you, Alex, but you are adopted, You are not really Beth's twin brother or born Alexander Romanov. Your real birth name is Harry James Potter."

"You mean Alex is really the most famous wizard in recent history, except maybe for Dumbledore!" exclaimed Ivan in shock.

Alex just sat there, unable to speak or move, as he digested all this. Next to him, Beth protested, "But that can't be true! We look alike, except for the whole gender thing. And he doesn't have the lightning-shaped scar that Harry Potter is supposed to-" She trailed off as she remembered something. "Oh, is that why you have Alex apply that cream once a month?"

Stephan nodded. "The cream hides his scar."

Alex finally found his voice. "That's impossible. I can't really be Harry Potter, can I?"

"You are," said Remus. "When your parents died, you were sent to live with your Muggle aunt and uncle on your mother's side of the family, since they were your only remaining relatives. However, it seems that they didn't want to keep you, for your uncle left you on the steps of the church in your town."

Ana took up the tale. "Well, I was taking my usual morning walk and saw your uncle leave you. I told him off and informed him that if he didn't want you, then I would adopt you. On my way back home, I noticed your scar and realized who you were. Stephan and I made the decision to change your name and have you be Beth's twin. We gave you an Adoption Potion so you would look like one of the family, and told your adoptive grandparents and aunts and uncles the truth. We all decided to tell you the truth about your heritage once you turned eleven and was about to start Hogwarts."

"Oh," said Alex faintly. He thought things over, then continued, "It's a good thing I got adopted then. If my aunt and uncle didn't want me, I can imagine that my life would have been horrible if they had decided to keep me. This way I have a loving and wonderful family and great friends. Er, Uncle Remus, is this why you're Beth's and my tutor? You said once that you were friends with the Pot-I mean my birth parents."

Remus nodded. "Your adoptive parents contacted me, since I was the only friend of your birth parents still available. They were kind enough to let me see you whenever I wanted, and when I objected to being provided the Wolfsbane Potion for free, decided to hire me, first as your and Beth's baby-sitter and later on as your tutor, so I could pay for it that way."

Ana took a jar out of pocket and beckoned Alex over. She applied a cream that would counter the effects of the one he had on, then Aunt Sarah conjured a mirror. Alex gazed at his reflection and saw the lightning-bolt scar on his forehead. Faced with this evidence, he had to accept that he really was Harry Potter. He then lowered the mirror and let his adoptive sister and cousins look at him. They all gasped upon seeing the scar, but nobody commented. Stephan then handed him the cream that would hide the scar and Alex applied it on.

When he was done, he declared, "I don't want to reveal myself to the rest of the wizarding world. I've been Alex Romanov for almost ten years of my life and really don't want people fussing over me for something I don't remember and caused the death of my birth parents. Do you know why my blood aunt and uncle didn't want me?"

"Apparently they hated magic like my parents did," said Aunt Sarah. "You know how my parents disowned me when it turned out I was a witch and insisted on going to Hogwarts."

"Well, you got a new family, Sarah," said Ana with a smile. "We became friends and you spent all your holidays at my home, and after you married Niko, we became sisters."

Vera looked around at her siblings and cousins, then said from her position as the eldest of them, "We swear not to reveal the truth about your heritage."

Alex nodded, knowing that he could trust them and that they were all capable of keeping secrets. He turned to his adoptive parents. "What about my friends? Could I tell them, or at least Ron and Neville since they're starting Hogwarts this year too, about my real identity and stuff?"

"This is your secret, Alex," said Ana. "You are the one to decide whom you want to know about it outside of the family, Remus, and Fiona."

"Okay, then," replied Alex. "I think I will tell my friends, though maybe not right away. I want to make sure Ron won't blurt it out by accident if he got too worked up or something."

The adults then cleared the table and washed the dishes, except for Remus, who answered questions that Alex had about his birth parents. He was pleased to find that he had inherited his father's talent at Quidditch (though James Potter had been a Chaser) and his mother's talent at Potions.

The next day Beth and Alex went to Diagon Alley, where they found that the rest of the wizarding world was in an uproar over Harry Potter's disappearance. For some mysterious reason, his name was not in the book that listed all Hogwarts students when it came time to send out the letters. However, his name wasn't listed as being a Squib, either, so a letter was written to him and sent out There was no reply, and after more letters had been sent out with still no reply, it was discovered that Harry Potter wasn't living with his relatives at all. The Dursleys had admitted that they hated anything they considered abnormal, including magic, and so had decided to abandon their nephew. Unfortunately, Mr. Dursley didn't remember the name of the town where the church he had left Harry at was located in, or what the woman that had seen him had looked like, so now a search was going on for the Boy-Who-Lived.

Alex exchanged amused looks with Beth, finding the whole situation rather funny. He was right under their noses, but nobody outside of his adoptive family, Remus, Fiona, and later his friends would ever know.

At Gringotts, the Romanovs had a meeting with a goblin named Griphook, who confirmed Alex's real identity with a drop of his blood and promised on the behalf of the Goblin Nation to keep it a secret. Alex was then given access to the vault his birth parents had left him, and notified about the two properties he had inherited. One was in Godric Hollow, where he had lived with his parents before their deaths, and the other had belonged to his blood paternal grandparents.

Alex took a look at his vault, and after some begging, his adoptive parents let him withdraw some spending money. After that, they went to the Romanov vault, where Mr. and Mrs. Romanov withdrew fifty Galleons, some Sickles and Knuts, and let Beth take some for her spending money. The group then met the Weasleys and Neville and his grandmother in the lobby of the bank. Neville was very relieved to have gotten his letter, for he hadn't shown any signs of magic until his seventh birthday, when he'd fallen off the Shooting Star that he'd gotten and had bounced to the ground, suffering no injury at all. After that, he had only had two more incidents of accidental magic, compared to the at least eight times that Alex and Beth had, and his relatives were worried that he still might be more of a Squib enough to attend Hogwarts until Fiona had told them that she had shown no signs of magic at all. The Hogwarts letter had removed any lingering doubts, and pleased Neville's Great-uncle Algie so much that he'd bought Neville a toad.

The three families went to Flourish and Blotts for the books, where Ron had to get all his secondhand, since his family didn't have all that much money. That was followed by Madam Malkin's for robes. Out of the Weasley family, only Percy got new robes, for he had been made prefect. Ron muttered that he would be wearing his oldest brother Bill's old robes when Alex gave him a questioning look. Alex flushed and wished he hadn't looked questioningly, for he knew that his friend Ron could be a bit touchy sometimes about not having much money. Not that the Romanovs were well-off, either, but they at least were able to afford new things. On the other hand, there was only Beth and Alex. If they had as many children as the Weasleys, then it would probably be more difficult to afford new things for everyone.

Potions supplies, cauldrons, parchment, quills, ink, scales, and telescopes followed, Ron's cauldron, scales, and telescope were all secondhand. The final stop of the day was for wands. Ron was going to use his brother Charlie's old wand, but then Mrs. Romanov insisted on buying him his own wand as a very early Christmas present. Mrs. Weasley gave in at the end and after several tries, Ron was the proud owner of a fourteen-inch ash wand with unicorn hair core. Beth got a wand of hazel, ten-and-a-half inches, with a phoenix feather core. Alex ended up trying just about every wand in the shop before the right one chose him. By this point, the Weasleys had left, and so had the Longbottoms, as Neville was going to use his father's wand instead getting one of his own. Alex's wand was holly, eleven inches, and the core was a phoenix feather. According to Mr, Ollivander, the phoenix that had given the feather had also given one other, which was the core of the wand that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had.

Alex was very surprised to hear that his wand was the brother wand of Voldemort's. His parents exchanged looks, wondering what this meant. After a moment of silence, Mr. Romanov paid for the two wands and the family left. Silence continued as they went to the Leaky Cauldron and Flooed home with their purchases. Alex decided that his wand's relation to Voldemort's couldn't be helped, like his blood relation to the Dursleys, and after lunch, began looking through his new school books.

Next chapter: Alex and Beth leave for Hogwarts. They meet Hermione Granger on the Hogwarts Express. Beth takes a liking to her, while Ron finds Hermione rather annoying and Alex partially agrees. Neville remains undecided.

Author's Note: When Harry Potter got adopted by the Romanovs and his name and birthday changed, the Hogwarts book that lists all magical students immediately changed his entry as well to reflect it.


	4. A Journey to Hogwarts

Summary: Harry/Alex and Beth leave for Hogwarts, where they, Ron, and Neville meet Hermione during the train ride. Beth and Hermione become immediate friends, while the boys are hesitant, since in her nervousness, Hermione comes across as a bit of an annoying bossy know-it-all.

September the first arrived and it was time to leave for Hogwarts. While Alex would miss his family (except for his cousins that were already attending), he was also very excited to be at Hogwarts, spend more time with Ron and Neville, and possibly even make some new friends. Beth in particular wanted to become friends with another girl, for while she was friends with Luna and Ginny, they wouldn't be starting Hogwarts next year and she didn't want to be the only girl with Alex, Neville, and Ron.

The Romanovs arrived at King's Cross Station at half past ten and found trolleys for the two trunks. They then went through the barrier between Platforms Nine and Ten to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Neville and Mrs. Longbottom were already there, the former clutching tightly to his toad as Trevor kept trying to hop away. The Weasleys arrived a couple of minutes later, Ginny rather upset that she couldn't attend Hogwarts yet and stuck alone at home with her parents, even if she did have two friends to keep her company.

Alex, Beth, Neville, and Ron found an empty compartment at the end of the train and stowed their trunks away. After that, they came out to say good-bye to their families. Ginny was still a bit upset about not being able to go to Hogwarts, but Beth promised to write her tons of letters. Alex also added that she had Luna, David, and Jonas to keep her company. Jonas came over from saying good-bye to his siblings Vera and Ivan and pointed that he was only nine and had to wait two years, while she would only have to wait one. To further help cheer Ginny up, Fred said that he'd send her a Hogwarts toilet seat. When his mother scolded him, he added that he was only joking.

Mr. and Mrs. Romanov hugged and kissed Alex and Beth and told them to do the best they could in classes and have fun at Hogwarts. Their grandparents then hugged and kissed them and added, "Before you know it, it'll be the Christmas holidays and we'll be together again until school resumes." The aunts and uncles joined in the good-byes.

A couple of minutes later, it was eleven and the Hogwarts Express began pulling out. Ginny, David, and Jonas ran after the train until it drew too much speed and then they fell back, waving. A minute later it rounded a bend and the platform couldn't be seen any more. Fred and George left at this point, as their friend Lee Lordan had said that he had a giant tarantula and they wanted to see it. Ivan and Cara left as well to find their friends. Vera did the same, but not before saying, "If you guys need me for anything, don't hesitate to ask, all right? I'm happy to help my younger cousins and their friends. Oh, and I hope at least one of you gets Sorted into Ravenclaw like I did."

Alex, Beth, Ron, and Neville settled in their compartment. The previous day, Alex had finally made the decision to let his friends in on the secret of his true identity. He had taken the four of them and Beth to his room and revealed that he was really Harry Potter and explained everything. Once they had gotten over their shock and he had shown them the scar, they all promised to never reveal it. Luna had been the one that was the least shocked, but that was to be expected considering her normal behavior. She believed everything that her father published in _The Quibbler_, no matter how bizarre, and had an insightful nature so that whenever she said something that wasn't weird, it was generally wise. How much this had to do with her mother's death when she was nine was uncertain, but Luna had definitely gotten a little stranger after that, even with her friends' mothers taking over as her mother figures.

"Alex, you're sure about keeping this up?" asked Neville. "The entire wizarding world is freaking out over Harry Potter's disappearance. Gran brought it up again last night."

"Yes, I'm sure," answered Alex firmly. "I don't want people fawning over me just because I'm famous for something I don't even remember. And I find it very funny that everyone is looking for me, when I'm right under their noses."

"Yeah, and if it keeps up, it could become the longest-ever prank in history," added Ron with a chuckle.

At this point, the door to their compartment slid open, revealing a girl with bushy brown hair, brown eyes, and already dressed in her Hogwarts robes. "May I join you guys?" she asked hesitantly. "I was sitting in another compartment, but when the other occupants realized that I was Muggleborn, they made me leave."

"Of course," said Beth at once, moving her cat carrier to the floor so that a seat was cleared. "I'm Elisabeth Romanov, Beth for short. That is my brother Alexander, Alex for short, and those two are our friends Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom."

"I'm Hermione Granger," replied the other girl, stowing her trunk away and taking a seat. She smiled nervously at the others, revealing rather large front teeth. "Isn't Romanov the surname of the last Czar of Russia?"

"Yes, but I doubt my family has any relation to them," responded Beth. "We're _Roma_, or Gypsies, and both sides of my family haven't been living in Russia since the 1700's. You must be really smart if you knew that about our last name, Hermione."

Hermione looked pleased. "I love to read. And I suppose I did get top marks in primary school."

"Maybe you'll be in Ravenclaw then," remarked Alex. "Our cousin Vera is in that house, and she's really smart like you."

"That would be nice," said Hermione. "However, I would like being in Gryffindor more. It sounds by far the best. I read that Dumbledore was in that house."

"All the houses are equally wonderful," said Beth. "Uncle Tobias and Aunt Maria were in Hufflepuff. Dad was in Ravenclaw. Mum and Aunt Sarah were in Gryffindor, and Uncle Nikolas was in Slytherin. Among our cousins, Vera is in Ravenclaw, Cara in Hufflepuff, and Ivan in Slytherin. David and Jonas are too young to attend Hogwarts yet."

"Mr. Petrov was in Slytherin?" asked Ron, surprised. "But he doesn't seem like it. And your Aunt Sarah is Muggleborn!"

"Just because Slytherin has a reputation of producing dark witches and wizards that believe in pureblood supremacy doesn't mean that everyone in that house is one," said Beth patiently. "Considering the prejudice Gypsies have faced from _Gejos_, Muggle and magical alike, for centuries, it would be hypocritical of us to be prejudiced. Besides, Aunt Sarah is also Jewish, and you know Jewish people have faced prejudice from Gentiles for centuries, too, the latest and most widespread during World War Two with Nazi Germany."

Hermione looked at Ron. "You really shouldn't assume things. By the way, you've got dirt on your nose. You should wipe it off."

Ron stiffened indignantly, but before he could make a retort, Beth gave him a look and handed him a handkerchief. He sighed and rubbed at his nose, whispering to Alex at the same time, "If Hermione's like this all the time, then I hope we don't end up in the same house." The conversation then turned to the classes at Hogwarts. Hermione revealed that she had learned all their course books by heart and hoped that it would be enough. Alex and Ron exchanged looks at this. They had looked through their books, but certainly hadn't learned all the contents by heart, other than in Potions, and that was mainly due to the past two years of Potions lessons from Alex's mother.

"You'll be fine, Hermione," said Neville. "There's lots of Muggleborn students and they do well. You'll probably do better than me in most subjects anyway, since you're so smart and know all the material already. The only things I'm really good at are Herbology and Potions, and with Potions, that's only due to all the lessons Mrs. Romanov gave me, since she's a Potions Mistress. I probably won't be much good with anything involving spells, since I've only had three incidents of accidental magic."

"Neville, you're a great wizard," said Beth firmly. "And I'm certain you'll do well in Charms, at the very least. When Dad taught us some simple wandless magic last year, you learned how to levitate objects and change the color of things pretty quickly. You certainly got it faster than me."

At that point, the door to the compartment opened again, this time revealing a smiling witch with a food trolley. "Anything off the cart, dears?" she asked.

Ron turned pink and muttered that he had sandwiches. The other four went out to the hall to see what was available. Hermione looked interestedly at the wizarding sweets and Beth told her all the names. Between the four of them, they ended up buying some if everything and brought it inside the compartment. Ron took apart one of his sandwiches and frowned when he saw that it was corned beef, which he didn't like.

"You know, there are many poor and starving people in this world who would be happy to have one your sandwiches, Ron," scolded Hermione.

Ron opened his mouth to retort angrily, but Alex spoke first. "Hermione, does it really matter? It's not like we know enough magic at the moment to send a sandwich to one of the starving orphans in Africa if Ron doesn't want it. Here, Ron, have a pumpkin pasty."

Ron gave Hermione an annoyed look before picking up a pasty. He had no problem with sharing the food, since he had been sharing things with his friends ever since the friendships had formed. The conversation resumed, and after awhile, Ron took out his rat, Scabbers, who had originally belonged to Percy but after getting an owl for becoming a prefect, had given the rat to Ron. "He does nothing but sleep," complained Ron. "I tried doing a spell to turn him yellow, but it didn't work. Here, I'll show you."

He took out his wand, waved it at Scabbers, and recited, "_Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow. Turn this stupid fat rat yellow_."

Nothing happened and Hermione asked, "Are you sure that's a real spell? Well, it's not very good, is it? I've done a few simple spells for practice and they've all worked for me. Here, I'll demonstrate." She took out her wand and repaired a torn gum wrapper.

Neville looked impressed with the spell, Ron became annoyed again, and Alex sided with him, since Hermione was coming across as rather annoying at the moment. Beth sighed and whispered something in Hermione's ear. She blushed and said, "I'm sorry if I offended you, Ron."

"Apology accepted," said Ron stiffly.

"Your twin brothers gave you that 'spell', didn't they?" asked Alex. "It's all right, Ron. You know how Fred and George like to play pranks on everyone."

"Hey, where's Trevor?" asked Neville suddenly, looking around. "I thought I put him on the seat next to me."

"Maybe he escaped when we bought the snacks," suggested Ron. "We'll help you look for him."

The five of them began searching for Trevor. However, nobody seemed to have seen the toad. In one compartment, which contained a boy with a pale pointed face and blond hair, two other boys that looked heavyset and mean, and two girls, one who looked pug-faced and the other a plain-looking redhead, the occupants turned out to be rather rude. The blond boy sneered at Neville for having a toad, and the two girls joined in, while the heavyset boys nodded in agreement.

"Hey, leave Neville alone!" snapped Alex. "It's not his fault that he has a toad! It was a gift from his great-uncle."

"Don't tell me what to do!" retorted the other boy. "Who do you think you are, Harry Potter?"

Alex stifled an urge to snap back that he really was Harry Potter and instead said, "You shouldn't be so rude. Didn't you parents teach you any manners? Who are you, anyway?"

"Draco Malfoy," said the boy proudly. Seeing Alex glance at the other people in the compartment, Draco added, "That's Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. The two girls are Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass. Now, who are you guys?"

"Alex Romanov," answered Alex. "That's my sister Beth. And those are-"

"Wait, don't tell me," interrupted Draco. He looked at Ron and continued, "You must be a Weasley. My father told me that all Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford." Ron flushed and Draco's gaze rested on Hermione. "And you're the Mudblood that we kicked out of this compartment."

"Don't call Hermione that!" snapped Ron, forgetting his annoyance with her in his anger at Malfoy.

"Apologize to her at once, _Gejo_," snarled Alex, taking out his wand and pointing it at Malfoy. Normally he didn't use the Romani word for a non-Gypsy, since his friends weren't _Roma, _but Malfoy was so rude and annoying.

"Don't!" hissed Hermione. "You'll get in trouble for fighting before we even get to Hogwarts, Alex!"

"I'm not apologizing," spat Malfoy. "And what did you call me?"

"My brother called you a _Gejo_," responded Beth. "Which is what we call those that aren't _Roma_ in the Romani language."

"Oh, you're Gypsies," sneered Pansy. "Halfblood trash. Well, well, this little group of friends certainly deserve each other."

Daphne nodded. "Yeah, there's two Gypsies, a Mudblood, a blood traitor, and a pathetic boy looking for a toad."

"If not being a Gypsy or blood traitor means that I'd be a pureblood snob like you guys, then I'd rather die," snapped Alex. He lowered his wand and strode angrily away. The other four glared at Malfoy and his associates and then followed Alex.

The five of them finally found Trevor in an empty box on the food trolley. They returned to their compartment, Alex still fuming over Malfoy, Pansy, and Daphne. "Those idiots will probably end up in Slytherin," he raged. "Well, I certainly don't want to be Sorted there if I have to be around them all the time. Why can't more Slytherins be decent like Ivan and Uncle Niko?"

"Draco's a Malfoy," said Beth simply. "He was raised to be a prejudiced pureblood git. Especially considering who his father is. You know that Lucius Malfoy escaped being convicted of being a Death Eater by claiming to have been bewitched, but that's not true. And with all the money and connections he has, he made sure he was believed."

"It's not so much what they said about us," said Alex. "The _Roma_ people have faced prejudice for centuries, and I can handle that. But insulting our friends!"

"It's not that big a deal," said Neville. "We can stand up for ourselves. And you know I can be-"

"You are NOT pathetic!" interrupted Alex, firmly "You are a great friend and a wonderful person, Neville."

"Yeah," seconded Ron and Beth. Hermione nodded in agreement.

After Alex had calmed down, the boys changed into their robes. Beth went to the bathroom to do the same and Hermione left with her. When they returned, the five of them talked about other things until the Hogwarts Express arrived at the station. The gamekeeper, Hagrid, met the first years and took them across the lake in boats. All gasped in awe when they got their first glimpse of the castle.

Once they reached the other side, they walked up a path towards the school. It was rather dark, and Neville stumbled once and would have fallen if Beth hadn't grabbed the back of his robes. Once at the front doors, they stopped and Hagrid knocked loudly.

Next chapter: The Sorting and the welcoming feast.


	5. A Sorting and Meeting

Chapter Summary: Professor McGonagall meets the first-years and conducts the Sorting. The welcoming feast follows, and Harry/Alex and Beth have a meeting with Dumbledore and the Heads of House before going to bed.

The door swung open and a witch wearing a pointed hat and emerald green robes with square glasses perched on her nose and her hair done in a severe bun met them. She looked very stern and Alex's first thought was that crossing her would be a Very Bad Idea. "The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid, I will take them from here," said Professor McGonagall.

She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of Alex's house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.

They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Alex could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right — the rest of the school must already be here — but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's still somewhat smudged nose. Alex nervously smoothed his hair.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."

She left the chamber. Alex swallowed and wondered what house he would be Sorted into. His adoptive parents had told him about the Sorting Hat, so he knew what to expect during the Sorting, but other than that, he had absolutely no idea what house he would end up in. All he really cared about was not ending up in Slytherin, for while he had no objection to being in the same house as Ivan or having Professor Snape for a Head of House, he did not want to be stuck in a dorm room with that awful Draco Malfoy and his two hulking bodyguards/cronies for the next seven years, since it was clear that they'd end up there. To calm his nerves, Alex began silently reciting potion ingredients in his head.

After a couple of minutes, something happened that made him jump about a foot in the air — several people behind him screamed.

"What the —?"

He gasped. So did the people around him. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing.

What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance —"

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost — I say, what are you all doing here?"

A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years. Nobody answered.

"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"

A few people nodded mutely.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."

"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.

"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."

Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead, Alex got into line behind a boy with sandy hair, with Beth behind him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

Alex had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Alex looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Hermione whisper, "Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in _Hogwarts, A History_."

He didn't bother telling her that he had also read _Hogwarts, A History_and instead focused his gaze on Professor McGonagall, who silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first-years, with a patched, frayed, and extremely dirty wizard's house set on top. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth — and the hat began to sing a song about the four houses and how he would Sort them into one of them.

The whole hall burst into applause when the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment. "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"

A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause — "HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Alex saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws, including Vera, stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.

"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Alex could see the Weasley twins catcalling.

"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. She looked rather unpleasant, and was rather big, along the lines of Crabbe and Goyle.

The Sorting progressed, and Alex noticed that while the Hat took very little time for some people, for others it longer. Seamus Finnigan, the sandy-haired boy in front of Alex, sat on the stool for almost a minute before he was declared a Gryffindor. When Hermione Granger was called, she almost ran to the stool and jammed the Hat eagerly on her head. Several seconds later, it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" Ron groaned as she dashed towards the Gryffindor table, pausing only long enough to whisper to Beth, "Hope to see you in Gryffindor too!"

Several names later, it was Neville's turn. He tripped and fell on his way to the stool. The Sorting Hat took a long time with him, longer than it had with Seamus. When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!", Neville ran off still wearing the hat and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to Morag MacDougal.

Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!" Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself.

There weren't many people left now. Isabel Moon went in Hufflepuff, Theodore Nott and Pansy Parkinson in Slytherin, Padma Patil in Ravenclaw and her twin sister Parvati in Gryffindor, and Sally-Anne Perks in Hufflepuff. Then "Romanov, Elisabeth" was called.

Beth calmly and gracefully made her way to the stool and sat down, placing the hat on her head. A second later, it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" Looking very pleased, she removed the hat and then took a seat next to Hermione at the Gryffindor table. After that was Alex's turn.

When he placed the hat on his head, a small voice said in his ear, "Well, this is very interesting. Apparently you weren't born Alexander Romanov. Oh, don't worry, I won't tell anyone else. There's student/Sorting Hat confidentiality. Now, let's see. You have plenty of courage. Not a bad mind, either, though you're clearly not interested in learning for the sake of learning like most Ravenclaws. You have deep loyalty for your adopted family and friends, hate injustice, and don't mind a bit of hard work. There's talent, of my goodness yes, and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting. So where shall I place you? You could fit perfectly in every house."

_Put me with my sister and friend, _Alex thought firmly. _Or at least any house but Slytherin. I don't want to share a dorm room with Malfoy and his two friends for the next seven years._

"Not Slytherin, eh?" said the small voice. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that — no? Well, if you're sure — better be GRYFFINDOR!"

Alex heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. Relieved that he wouldn't be stuck in the same house as Malfoy and his friends and wasn't separated from Beth and Neville (thought their relationship wouldn't change any if they had been in different houses), he removed the hat and headed for the Gryffindor table. Fred and George grinned at him, and Beth clapped him on the back as he took a seat between her and Neville.

There were five people left to be sorted. A haughty looking boy named Zacharias Smith went to Hufflepuff and Dean Thomas, a black boy that was even taller than Ron, joined Alex at the Gryffindor table. Lisa Turpin became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now.

Alex crossed his fingers and to his utter relief, the hat shouted out, "GRYFFINDOR!" a second later.

Ron's friends clapped loudly with the rest as he collapsed into the chair on the other side of Neville.

"Well done, Ron, excellent," said Percy Weasley pompously across Alex as "Zabini, Blaise," was made a Slytherin. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away.

Alex looked down at his empty gold plate. He had only just realized how hungry he was. The sweets on the train ride seemed ages ago.

Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there. "Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Alex grinned, remembering that his relatives had described Professor Dumbledore as being a bit eccentric, even if he was one of the greatest wizards of all time. Then again, geniuses tended to have a reputation for some eccentricity. Look at the Muggle scientist Albert Einstein, for example. Or some of the stories about Merlin.

Then Alex registered that the dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs. He immeditately piled his plate with some of everything except the the peppermints and began eating. It was all delicious.

"That does look good," said the ghost in the ruff sadly, watching Alex cut up his steak.

"Can't you —?"

"I haven't eaten for nearly five hundred years," said the ghost. "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."

"I know who you are!" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me about you — you're Nearly Headless Nick!"

"I would _prefer _you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy —" the ghost began stiffly, but sandy-haired Seamus Finnigan interrupted.

"_Nearly _Headless? How can you be _nearly _headless?"

Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted.

"Like _this_," he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly. Looking pleased at the stunned looks on their faces, Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back onto his neck, coughed, and said, "So — new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us win the house championship this year? Gryffindors have never gone so long without winning. Slytherins have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable — he's the Slytherin ghost."

Alex looked over at the Slytherin table and saw a horrible ghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face, and robes stained with silver blood. He was right next to Malfoy who, Alex was pleased to see, didn't look too pleased with the seating arrangements. Ivan spotted him looking over and smiled and waved, which Alex returned.

"How did he get covered in blood?" asked Seamus with great interest.

"I've never asked," said Nearly Headless Nick delicately.

When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before. A moment later the desserts appeared. Blocks of ice cream in every flavor you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding…

As Alex helped himself to a treacle tart, the talk turned to their families.

"I'm half-and-half," said Seamus. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mum didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him." The others laughed.

"What about you, Elisabeth?" asked Parvati.

"It's Beth. Nobody calls me Elisabeth except when I'm in trouble. Anyway, Alex and I are wizarding _Romanies_. Also more commonly known as Gypsies. Though we don't travel like we used to in the past. Our grandparents decided to settle down after they got married and had children. It wasn't really convenient for them to travel around in _vardos_ any more."

"What're _vardos_?" asked Dean curiously.

"A _vardo_ is a type of wagon that we Romas used to travel around in," responded Alex. "My family still has a few that we keep in our yards. Mum turned our _vardo_ into a Potions lab, so nothing happens to our house if one of the potions she brews turns out disastrously wrong. The ones our grandparents and aunts and uncles have get used on the camping trip the whole extended family have each summer, so that us grandkids get to experience first-hand what the whole traveling thing was like back then."

The rest of the Gryffindor first-years looked interested, but a couple of older students that had overheard the conversation sneered or looked contemptous. It was clear that they probably still clung to the prejudices against the Romany people, or at least had been raised that way by their parents or guardians.

At last, the desserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent. "Ahem — just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.

"First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins. "I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Alex laughed, but he was one of the few who did. "He's not serious?" he muttered to Percy.

"Must be," said Percy, frowning at Dumbledore. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere — the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us prefects, at least."

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Alex noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed.

Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words.

"Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"

Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest. "Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

Beth and Alex separated from the other first-years Gryffindors, as their parents had arranged a meeting for them with Professor Dumbledore and the four Heads of house after the welcoming feast. After much consideration and advice, Alex had decided to let them in on the secret. Based on what the adult Romanovs and Petrovs knew of them, they were judged trustworthy, and could help keep up the masquerade while at the same time not have to worry about Harry Potter's disappearance. Well, Professor Snape, Head of Slytherin, they weren't completely sure about, but Uncle Nikolas had been housemates with him and knew that he liked Lily Potter, and so for her sake would likely keep the secret. At least it wasn't still Professor Slughorn that was the Head, because he had a habit of 'collecting' those that were famous, well-connected, or extremely talented, and wouldn't be able to resist doing the same to Alex if he knew the truth, which would complicate things and perhaps result in the truth being revealed to the rest of the wizarding world.

Once all the students had left, Professor Dumbledore and the Heads of house escorted Beth and Alex to the staff room. A few minutes later, Ana and Stephan Romanov Flooed in.

"What is this meeting about, Mr. and Mrs. Romanov?" asked Professor Flitwick, the diminutive Head of Ravenclaw and Charms instructor.

"It concerns the truth about Alex, which must be kept secret," replied Mrs. Romanov. "Alex, would you like to explain?"

Alex nodded. "I'm not really a Gypsy. I was adopted by the Romanovs when I was one years old. The day of my eleventh birthday, I was told the truth, and that I'm really Harry Potter."

There was shocked silence, broken a minute later with Dumbledore exclaiming, "So you're the one that found Mr. Dursley abandoning Harry Potter, Mrs. Romanov!"

"But you look different and don't have the scar," protested Professor Sprout, looking closely at Alex.

"That's because I was given an Adoption Potion and apply a cream once a month that hides my scar," he responded. "Mum, do you have the cream that counters it?"

Mrs. Romanov produced a small jar from her pocket and handed it to him. He applied some cream on his forehead, revealing the famous scar. The teachers all gasped when they saw it.

"So you really are Harry Potter," said Professor Snape slowly, a strange look appearing on his face. It was somewhere between great dislike and shock.

"Yes, but I don't want the entire wizarding to find out. I've been Alexander Romanov for all but one year of my life and like being normal. I don't want people fussing over me because of some event I don't remember and resulted in the deaths of my biological parents. Nobody has ever given special treatment except on my birthday and Christmas, and then it's the usual kind that all kids that aren't abused get at those times. Besides, it's safer for me, since I know Voldemort's not completely gone, and will likely return to power one day. If he went after me when I was a baby, then he'd want to go after me again, and if where I am is a mystery to most people, he'll have a hard time getting to me."

"How do you know that?" asked Professor Dumbledore, looking surprised.

"Some Romany people have the ability to predict the future, as you very well know," said Mrs. Romanov. "I'm one of those, and I made a prediction that the Dark Lord will be defeated once, but will return to power eventually and after a reign of terror be vanquished for good by the one that defeated him the first time around. I explained it to Alex a couple of weeks ago so that he will be prepared. I'm not saying that all my predictions come true, but with all the things that the Dark Lord has done previously, his future actions will most likely make sure that this one will come true. In other words, it will become a self-predicting prophecy. And while Alex could decide to not face the Dark Lord at all, he really is not the sort to sit back and let some evil dictator have free reign over things, due to his hatred of injustice."

Professor McGonagall frowned. "But he's only eleven! He can't go around facing one of the most evil wizards of all time!"

"Alex isn't about to go face Voldemort now," said Mr. Romanov. "The Dark Lord isn't going to return to power for a few years yet, according to Ana's prediction. By the time that Alex is actually ready to confront him and vanquish him for good, Alex will be of age."

"That's better," said Professor McGonagall. "And it's a good thing that you adopted him. He had the chance of a normal and happy childhood before Hogwarts and wasn't with his awful relatives. I knew they were the worst sort of Muggles after secretly watching them for a day."

"But there was a reason that he was left with the Dursleys," protested Dumbledore. "Harry, or should I say Alex, survived in part due to his mother's sacrifice. Since Mrs. Dursley is Lily's sister, her taking her nephew in would have sealed blood wards that would have kept him protected and safe until he was of age."

"That would protect him from Voldemort, Death Eaters that escaped arrest, and other evil wizards in his own home, but would it protect him from his relatives?" snapped Mrs. Romanov. "It's clear that they never wanted him in the first place, if his uncle just abandoned him on the steps of a church. If they had decided to keep him after all, his life would have miserable. They obviously hate magic, and so would hate Alex, and if he wasn't outright abused, he would at least be neglected, which can be worse since with abuse it at least means the abuser is acknowledging you. What kind of life would that have been? With us he got a normal and happy childhood, for a wizard at any rate, and it's not like he wasn't protected anyway."

Beth nodded. "For one thing, he's been Alexander Romanov and my twin ever since we adopted him, so nobody outside of the family and a few select trusted people know who he really is. For another, Dad, Grandpa Vladek, and Aunt Sarah are very skilled in Defensive magic and set up very strong wards on all our houses."

Professor Dumbledore looked very old at that moment, while the Heads of House had varying degrees of horror and disgust. Finally Dumbledore said, "I see that I made an even graver mistake than I thought in placing Alex with the Dursleys. Mr. and Mrs. Romanov, thank you for adopting him and giving him a normal childhood. He will remain with you, and I will ensure that his secret remains secret until you or Alex say otherwise."

The Heads of House all promised to do the same, though a strange look appeared on Professor Snape's face again. This time he looked unsure, perhaps because Alex wasn't anything like his biological father at all except for his real looks, Quidditch talent, and loyalty to his friends, and Snape hadn't expected that.

The meeting ended with Beth and Alex telling their parents that they and Ron and Neville, plus new friend Hermione Granger, were in Gryffindor, mainly because they hadn't wanted to be separated from their friends or stuck in the same house as some rather unpleasant people they had met on the Hogwarts Express. Alex had then turned to Professor Snape and said, "Not that we have anything against Slytherin. Our cousin Ivan is there, and Uncle Nikolas was a Slytherin too. It's just that some Slytherins are unpleasant, and I knew if I had to share a dorm room with Malfoy and his friends for the next seven years, I'd eventually snap and end up hexing them. I don't think you'd want that happening, Professor Snape."

"No, I wouldn't, Mr. Romanov," replied Snape, the strange look returning to his face.

Mrs. and Mr. Romanov bid good-bye to their children after that and Flooed home. Professor McGonagall escorted Beth and Alex, who applied the cream that hid his scar before leaving the staff room, to the Gryffindor common room, where they went up to their respective dorm rooms. In the first-year boys' dorm, Alex hastily explained to Seamus and Dean that he had to meet with Professor McGonagall about something when they asked where he'd been, and Beth did the same to Hermione, Parvati, and Lavender. After that, the two got ready for bed.

Next chapter: The first week of classes and tea with Hagrid.

Author's Note: I decided that I didn't want Dumbledore to be so freaked out about Harry Potter's disappearance, so I decided to let him in on the secret, especially as he's not manipulative like in some fics. I also wanted Snape to find out, because his reaction would be very interesting, and he found out the truth in my other fic series where Harry grew up in an orphanage under the name James Lydell and also decided not to reveal himself to the wizarding world at large. Since it would look odd if the meeting only had Dumbledore and Snape, I decided to include the other Heads of house, since I can't have Snape find out the same way he did in my other fic series. However, rest assured that nobody else will find out or be told that Alex is really Harry Potter, except for Hermione, Sirius, and possibly the rest of the Weasleys and Neville's grandmother. At the very least the Weasley twins will find out, since the Marauder's Map would show Alex's birth name on it. Oh, and Voldemort and maybe the rest of the Death Eaters will find out, though not until he either returns to power or just before the final showdown between him and Alex. I may or may not decide to have the rest of the wizarding world find out after Voldy's defeated for good. If I don't, I may decide to have the Order, or only a select few, like Kingsley Shacklebolt and Tonks, be let in on the secret.


	6. An Interesting First Week

Author's Note: In the last chapter, I realized that I made an error in the Sorting. Alex should have been called before Beth, since it was in alphabetical order. Let's just say that Professor McGonagall accidentally skipped over Alex's name. She realized what she did a second later, but Beth was walking to the stool and she decided not to call attention to her mistake.

Happy Father's Day!

Summary: Harry/Alex has his first week of classes, decides that maybe Hermione isn't so bad after all, though has a hard time convincing Ron of that, and with his sister and friends, visits Hagrid Friday afternoon.

The next morning, Alex found himself waking up at six. He showered, brushed his teeth, and got dressed in his black school robes, making a face at the color. Romany people normally wore colorful clothing, and he had never worn robes or Muggle clothes that were completely black. He had worn darker colored clothes, like midnight blue, when helping brew potions, so that stains wouldn't show the way they would if he wore scarlet or something similar, but that had been it. At least the school uniform was only required during classes, so once they were over for the day, he could change to his regular clothing.

After dressing, he went down to the common room with the map that Vera had given him. All Ravenclaw first-years got a map of Hogwarts to help them find their way around the school, though it wasn't like the Marauder's Map that Remus had told him about. This map simply labeled the common rooms, Great Hall, occupied classrooms, staff room, Dumbledore's office, library, the Owlery, and the Astronomy tower, plus some of the bathrooms. Any secret passageways or shortcuts behind tapestries and the such or places that students normally didn't go to or had access to without a teacher's permission weren't labeled.

He pored over the map and after a few minutes, figured out how to get to the Great Hall. From there, he then worked out the way to some of the classrooms. By the time he was done, the rest of his dormmates were awake, and both Beth and Hermione had come downstairs. The two were deep in conversation, and looked as if they were pretty close friends already. Alex sighed, for it meant that he would be around Hermione more, and he hoped that she would relax and not be as annoying as she had been yesterday.

"You really _are_ smart, Hermione," Beth said admiringly. "Or at least have a photographic memory, since you apparently know as much about Potions other than the actual brewing as Alex and me, and our mother is a Potions Mistress who has taught us all that she could for the past three years. And you know as much about wizarding history, other than the Gypsy one, as Alex and me, also. Tell me again why weren't you Sorted into Ravenclaw?"

"Well, the Sorting Hat considered it, but in the end it decided that I was better suited for Gryffindor," replied Hermione. "And I _did_ want to be in Gryffindor more than Ravenclaw."

"Well, I'm glad you're in Gryffindor. Not that being in separate houses would stop us from being friends, but it's much easier when we're in the same house. I'll write Grandmum Lise and ask her to send me the book on Romany history that she and Grandpa Vladek wrote down so you can read it. And you can borrow any other books I have that's not in the Hogwarts library, if you'll let me borrow any Muggle books you have that I don't own."

"You have Muggle books, Beth?" asked Hermione in surprise.

"Yeah, Alex and I both do," answered Beth. "So do our cousins. Even though we technically live in the wizarding world, we are familiar with the Muggle world. I've read tons of Muggle books, though most of them are fiction, my family has seen a number of films, and we have some appliances in our homes, plus share a car. Oh, whenever I mention my family, I'm referring to the extended family, unless I happen to specify otherwise. We're very close, you see. But then, most Romany clans are. Oh, good morning Alex."

"Good morning Beth and Hermione," responded Alex. "Er, could I talk with you, Beth? In private?"

Beth looked surprised by this, but nodded. The two went to a corner of the common room, where Alex asked in a whisper, "Are you sure you want to be friends with Hermione?"

"Yes!" hissed Beth rather angrily. "She's a perfectly nice girl and likes to read just as much as I do. Even though she's nothing like Ginny and Luna, I like her immensely."

"It's not that," protested Alex. "She is nice, but she did come across as rather annoying yesterday."

"That's only because she was a bit nervous and wanted to succeed in the wizarding world. Also, she didn't exactly have friends in primary school. She was probably known as the annoying know-it-all bookworm, based on some of the stuff she told me. I wouldn't be surprised if she was made fun of or had people pretend to be her friend in order to use her for homework help, if not outright trying to get her to do their homework for them. Oh, and I'm not becoming her friend because I pity her. I genuinely find her friend material."

Alex immediately felt guilty about his earlier thoughts. After all, it wasn't as if his friends were perfect, either. Ron could be tactless at times, Luna came across as rather weird, and Neville didn't have a great deal of self-confidence. Alex made up his mind to make an effort to get to know Hermione better, and perhaps find that she was friend material after all.

Ron and Neville came down a few minutes later and the five of them went to the Great Hall fo breakfast. Thanks to the map, they managed to not get lost on the way. Partway through breakfast, the mail arrived. A barn owl landed in front Beth, a large package in his talons. "Hi, Cloud," she said, removing the package and giving him a piece of bacon to munch on. He ate it, hooted his thanks, and then flew to Alex, who stroked his feathers and gave him a piece of toast. After that, Cloud left, presumably flying back to the 'twins' maternal grandparents.

Beth opened the package to find several containers of Romani and Jewish food under a Preservation Charm to keep them from spoiling, plus a note from their grandparents congratulating them on getting in Gryffindor and expressing their hope that the food would keep them from getting too homesick.

"Why do you have some Jewish food when you're Romani?" asked Hermione, peering at the containers.

"Because of Aunt Sarah being Jewish," answered Alex. "And that technically makes Vera, Ivan, and Jonas Jewish as well, since Jewish people use, er, what's the word?"

"Matrilineal descent," responded Beth. She continued, "Therefore, in addition to Romany culture, we have also been exposed to Jewish culture. We celebrate the Jewish holidays along with the Christian ones of Christmas and Easter. Aunt Sarah isn't particularly strict about keeping a kosher household, however. The only thing she does is never serve pork and other meat products from pigs, and she will never use milk products when cooking meat."

Alex opened one of the containers, which was stuffed full with a type of breakfast pastry, and handed some around to his friends, including Hermione, and Beth and took one for himself. Not long after that, the schedules were handed out. Alex looked at his and saw that they had Transfiguration first, followed by Herbology.

After breakfast, Beth put the package away and then the group headed to Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall, the instructor, gave the class a strict talking to, telling them that those who misbehaved would leave her class and not return. Then she proceeded to turn her desk into a pig and back again. Everyone was very impressed, which turned to disappointment when they found out that they wouldn't be turning furniture into animals for a few more years. After taking a great deal of complicated notes, each person was handed a match and instructed to try to turn it into a needle.

Beth, who had done excellently with the lessons on elementary transfiguration with wandless magic, was first to succeed, turning her match into a shining silver embroidery needle. Hermione followed soon after that. Professor McGonagall gave them a rare smile, awarded them five points each to Gryffindor, and showed the class how well they had done.

Towards the end of class, Alex managed to turn his match into what was more-or-less a needle, but it was crooked, had a misshapen eye, and the tip was red like the match instead of silver like a needle. Professor McGonagall raised a brow, but did tell him that it was a good attempt and that with more practice, he could produce a perfect needle. Ron managed to turn his match so that the shape was that of a needle, but it was still made of wood, and Neville had made his silvery and pointy, but the same thickness of the match. Nobody else had made any change to their matches, other than Dean's getting thinner and Parvati's tip going a bit pointy.

Herbology was held in the greenhouses, three times a week, and was taught by Professor Sprout, Head of Hufflepuff. They learned how to take care of the plants and fungi that grew in the greenhouses, and naturally, Neville shined in that class.

Charms was taught by Professor Flitwick, whom Alex was beginning to suspect had some goblin ancestry, since he was so short that he had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. He took roll call at the beginning of class and stuttered a little when he came to Alex's name.

Defense Against Dark Arts was taught by Professor Quirrell, who was previously the Muggle Studies teacher but had taken a sabbatical the year before to gain practical experience in the subject he was currently teaching. Apparently he had faced things that had scared him deeply, for he trembled frequently and stuttered whenever he spoke. This made his lectures take longer as students tried to decipher what he was saying. Also, his room smelled strongly of garlic, which he said was to ward off a vampire he had fought and was afraid would come after him again some day. The ridiculous purple turban he was wearing, he said was a thank-you gift from an African prince for getting rid of a troublesome zombie. Nobody was sure if they belived this story. For one thing, when Seamus Finnigan eagerly asked how he'd gotten rid of it, Professor Quirrell turned pink and began talking about the weather. For another, there was a funny smell around it, and the Weasley twins insisted that it was stuffed with garlic so that he would be protected wherever he went.

In any case, the class wasn't very good. The Defense lessons that Remus had taught had been much more informational and interesting. The afternoon after the first Defense class, the group swore Hermione to secrecy about the Room of Requirement, which Remus had told them about, and then went there. The Room provided them with a very nice study room and hangout, where they could relax, as well as work on proper Defense and do their homework, during their free time. Alex and Beth took out the Defense books they had gotten for their birthday, used a copying spell to make copies of the first couple of chapters for their friends (they couldn't make copies of the entire book as that would be copyright infringement), and the group studied theoretical and practical Defense from that.

History of Magic turned out to be even worse than Defense. The teacher, Professor Binns, was literally dead boring. He was the only ghost teacher. The story was that he had been very old indeed when he'd fallen asleep by the staff fire one night. The next morning, he, or rather his ghost, had gotten up as usual to teach, leaving his body behind. He spoke in a monotone voice all the time, sucking out all the interest and joy in learning and leaving only withered husks. It was very hard to pay attention as he droned on and on about historical events and people. After the first class, Alex gave up listening at all, and instead read all the history texts he owned and took notes during class.

On Friday was Potions, which the first-year Gryffindors had with the Slytherins down in the Friday was Potions, which the first-year Gryffindors had with Slytherin down in the dungeons. Professor Snape was the instructor, and like Professor Flitwick, took attendance at the beginning of class. When he got to Alex's name, he paused and gave him an unreadable look before continuing. When he was done, he faced the class and addressed him.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word — like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort.

"As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses… I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death — if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

There was silence after he had finished the speech. Alex exchanged looks with Beth, thinking that it would have been a good speech if Snape hadn't added the last bit about the class being dunderheads. Hermione was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't one.

After a few seconds, Snape snapped, "Well, let's see how much you know. Mr. Romanov, what would I get if I mixed powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Hermione's hand shot in the air. "It would make a sleeping potion called the Draught of Living Breath," replied Alex. Hermione lowered her hand, looking slightly disappointed.

"Correct. Let's try again. Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

"It is a stone found in the stomach of a goat," answered Alex, ignoring the fact that Hermione had raised her hand again. "It can be used as an antidote to most poisons."

"Correct," said Snape in a grudging tone of voice. "What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

"There is no difference, sir. It is the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite."

Professor Snape blinked. "How exactly do you know so much about Potions already, Romanov?" he demanded.

"I like Potions, and my mother is a Potions mistress who has taught me everything that she could about the subject for the past three years, Professor."

"You _like_ Potions?" A strange look appeared on Snape's face, which quickly vanished a second later. "Then I expect you to do your best in this class. The same goes for Miss Romanov, since as your sister, she would have also been well-educated in Potions."

He then turned to the chalkboard and magically wrote the instructions for a simple potion to cure boils on it. "Everyone pair up and start working on this potion!" he barked.

Alex partnered with Ron and two started working on the potion, which they had made before. At the age of nine, they had been deemed ready to start making simple potions on their own, with supervision, and this had been one of them. However, brewing had been preceded by a year's worth of lessons on how to prepare ingredients, the uses and properties of the various ingredients, and the effects of various potions. Mrs. Romanov had been very thorough in making sure her children, nieces and nephews, and their friends before Hogwarts had understood the theoretical part of Potions before starting on the practical portion of brewing.

Professor Snape, however, didn't seem to be that sort of teacher, at least during class time. He would probably devote class time on having them brew potions, and the theoretical portion would be addressed in homework, most likely essays on the properties and/or uses of various ingredients. This didn't sound promising, and Alex couldn't help thinking that his adoptive mother was a better teacher, even though Snape was a Potions master and had learned everything he could about the subject.

Alex's opinion didn't change as class progressed. Snape simply swept around the room, criticizing everyone's work, except for Malfoy, whom he seemed to like, and Beth, Alex, Hermione, Ron, and Neville, who were following the instructions to the letter and not doing anything that he could really criticize. However, he didn't praise them the way he did with Malfoy.

When class ended, Alex, Beth, Ron, and Neville were asked to stay behind for a few minutes. "Have you four made the potion to cure boils before?" asked Snape.

"When we were nine, sir," responded Beth. "Our mother had us brewing simple potions under her supervision, instead of merely helping her brew, at that point. With more difficult potions, such as Veritserum, the Polyjuice Potion, and the Wolfsbane Potion, we still only helped her with, mostly by preparing the ingredients."

"I see. Since I cannot compliment you four on your work during class, as it would ruin the persona I cultivated, I am doing so now in private. Good work, and I expect you four to keep this up. A point each to Gryffindor for your perfect potions, and a point to Miss Granger for doing the same. Do not mention this to anyone else, am I clear? There is a reason why I have to appear to favor Slytherin and hate everyone else, and I do _not_ want anyone to think otherwise of me."

"We won't tell anyone else, Professor," promised Neville, and the other three did the same.

"All right then, you four may go. Oh, and Mr. Romanov, it seems that I was mistaken and you are more like your mother than your father."

Alex nodded, understanding that the professor was referring to his birth parents. The quartet left and met up with Hermione, who asked them why they had to stay behind. "He just wanted to ask us if we had made the potion before and to tell us that he expected the same level of work in the future," responded Beth. "I expect he didn't ask you to stay behind because he knows you wouldn't have made the potion before since you're Muggleborn, Hermione. But I think he will expect you to continue to do as well, since your work was perfect."

Hermione looked pleased at the fact that her work was thought perfect.

At three o'clock, the five of them went outside to meet the gameskeeper, Hagrid. A giant of man (Alex wondered if he could be part-giant), he welcomed the five inside, introduced them to his boarhound, Fang, and served tea and rock cakes. Having been warned about Hagrid's cooking from the cousins, they only pretended to eat the cakes, and faked enjoyment so as to not hurt his feelings.

"So Vera an' Ivan are yer cousins, eh?" asked Hagrid, looking at Beth and Alex. "They're good kids. Ivan's probably th' only Slytherin that likes me."

Alex didn't find that hard to believe. Ivan was nothing like the stereotypical Slytherin at all. He didn't have any friends in that house. In fact, his only friends were Fred, George, and Lee Jordan in Gryffindor and Cedric Diggory and a couple of others in Hufflepuff. Many of the other Slytherins hadn't made life pleasant for Ivan, partly because of his friendships and partly because he was Romany and so considered a halfblood. They'd only stopped after becoming targets of a number of pranks from the Weasley twins, and now simply ostracized him.

Hagrid then began asking Ron about his older brother Charlie, and Alex began reading the newspaper clipping that was on the table.

_GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST _

_Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown. Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day. _

"_But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon. _

He nudged Beth and Neville, who also read the clipping. Alex frowned, remembering hearing about the break-in and Cara mentioning seeing Hagrid at Gringotts on 'Hogwarts business' when she'd gone to get her school things for the year. What if the 'Hogwarts business' was removing whatever it was that was in the vault? "Hagrid, why do you have a clipping about the Gringott's break-in?" he asked.

Hagrid looked uncomfortable. "I was readin' it before you came in. Now, who wants some more rock cakes?"

Alex and Beth exchanged looks, feeling that there was more to it, but didn't pursue the subject, as Hagrid clearly didn't want to. At five o'clock, the quintet returned to the castle for dinner, their pockets full of rock cakes that they had been too polite to refuse. Alex kept thinking about the break-in and what Hagrid might know about it.


	7. An Incident with Draco Malfoy

Chapter Summary: Alex/Harry has flying class, he and Beth impress Madam Hooch and Professor McGonagall with their flying skill, and has a run-in with Malfoy.

Alex found himself settling into Hogwarts life rather easily. He enjoyed having more time to spend with Ron and Neville, and was on good terms with his other dormmates Dean and Seamus, though not quite on the level of friends. This didn't bother him, as Dean and Seamus were pretty much best friends with each other by the end of the first week. Hermione was still rather annoying, though she appeared to be trying to be less so. However, Ron didn't seem to notice, as the two were often at odds with other, and frequently bickered. It didn't help matters that Hermione was rule-abiding and extremely focused on her schoolwork, while Ron was more lax regarding the rules and didn't care too much for schoolwork unless he found the subject interesting or it was presented in a way that made learning fun.

Beth got along with Hermione the best, Alex was making an effort to get along with her, and Neville was immensely grateful for her help in subjects he struggled with, except for the times when she continued going on and on in lecture mode or started using an extensive vocabulary, which would then result in Beth explaining things in simpler terms. After that, Hermione would get a bit insulted, exclaiming, "But that's exactly what I said!" and Beth would sigh and patiently reply, "But not everybody understands you when you use large words, Hermione. You need to use layman's terms when explaining things to others that don't have your extensive vocabulary."

On Thursday was the first flying class for the Gryffindors, which was to be with the Slytherins. Alex was not pleased about that, as he would have to deal with Malfoy and his two cronies. Crabbe and Goyle weren't really that important, as they were somewhat lacking in the brains department and seemed to exist mainly to do Malfoy's bidding. Malfoy, however, was another matter. He had decided to hate Alex and his friends after that that confrontation on the Hogwarts Express, and had absolutely no problem in annoying them in some way whenever the teachers weren't around. Alex could put up and ignore any taunts about him being a Gypsy and halfblood, but insults to his sister and friends were another matter. Also, Pansy Parkinson and her little posse of girls, which included Daphne Greengrass, Millicent Bulstrode, and another girl named Tracey Davis, decided to target Beth and Hermione.

However, flying was one of Alex's favorite activities, so he was determined to not let the Slytherins cloud his enjoyment. Hermione, on the other hand, was extremely nervous, as flying wasn't something that you could learn out of a book, not that she hadn't tried. She bored them all at breakfast Thursday with flying tips that she had gotten out the book _Quidditch Through the Ages_. Well, Alex wasn't exactly bored, for it was one of his favorite wizarding books, but he didn't need to hear Hermione talk on and on about the tips she had read. It came as a relief when the mail arrived, interrupting her lecture.

Alex's owl, Hedwig, flew in with letters from Ginny, Luna, and his parents, while Cloud showed up with a letter from the grandparents and a package of food from Aunt Sarah. Mrs. Longbottom had sent Neville a Remembrall, which was a glass ball the size of a large marble that would turn red when you forgot something. The only problem was that it wouldn't tell you what you forgot.

It turned red as Neville was holding it, and while he racked his brains trying to figure out what it was that he'd forgotten, Draco and his two goons happened to walk by. Malfoy snatched the Remembrall, causing Neville to protest, "Hey!" and Beth to snap, "Give it back, Malfoy!"

Alex and Ron stood up, half hoping for an excuse to fight Malfoy, but Professor McGonagall, who could spot trouble faster than any other teacher, was there in a flash. "What's going on?"

"Malfoy has my Remembrall, Professor," answered Neville.

"I was just looking," scowled Malfoy, handing Neville back his Remembrall and sloping off with Crabbe and Goyle following.

Quidditch class was taught by Madam Hooch, who was also the referee during most Quidditch matches. She ordered everyone to stand next to a broom, hold out his or her hand over it, and say, "Up!" Alex's broom flew up to his hand at once, but it was one of the few to do so. To Alex's pleasure, Malfoy had to say, "Up!" three or four times before the broom would fly to his hand. Neville had to say it about a dozen times before it would do so, Ron's broom hit him in the face when flying up, and Hermione's broom merely rolled in the grass.

Once everyone had a broom in their hands, Madam Hooch taught them how to mount. She praised Alex on his perfect grip, who flushed with pleasure, and was even more delighted to hear her correct Malfoy's grip, telling him that he had been doing it wrong for years.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle — three — two — one."

The class kicked off into the air, Hermione still looking rather nervous. Alex couldn't help it and went up higher than the few feet that Madam Hooch had asked everyone to do. In fact, he went up a good thirty feet before realizing what he had done and quickly dived back to the ground.

"Very good, Mr. Romanov," said Madam Hooch, looking slightly impressed, "though in the future please follow my directions." She then directed the class to take off again, this time allowing those that were more comfortable to fly higher than a few feet.

It turned out that Neville's Remembrall had fallen out of his pocket and had been picked up by Malfoy, who was now tossing it up and catching it up in the air. "Give it back, Malfoy," snapped Neville when he noticed.

"Why should I?" demanded Malfoy, who saw that Madam Hooch was busy with helping Hermione.

"It's not yours and you shouldn't take other people's belongings without permission!" retorted Alex.

"Oh, like the Gypsies did?" asked Malfoy sarcastically.

Alex flushed, while Beth snapped, "If it weren't for prejudiced gits like you that wouldn't let us Romany people have proper jobs and whatnot in the past, we wouldn't have had to resort to stealing in order to survive!"

"Give it back or I'll knock you off your broom!" shouted Alex.

Malfoy flew off, proving that he was a good flier. Alex followed him, showing that he was better. After a minute of this, Malfoy had enough and threw the Remembrall high into the air, shouting, "Catch if catch can!"

Alex went streaking after it. Madam Hooch, who had turned from Hermione and now saw what was going on, shouted, "Mr. Romanov, what are you doing? Stop it at once!"

Alex ignored her and continued diving after the Remembrall, a tiny part of him wishing that he was on his Comet rather than on a school broom. About a few feet above the ground, he caught the Remembrall and pulled out of the dive. The watching Gryffindors cheered, except for Hermione, who looked somewhat disapproving. Alex landed, walked over to Neville and handed him back his Remembrall. Madam Hooch came over, an expression that was a cross between being impressed at his flying skill and being annoyed for not listening to her directions.

"Mr. Romanov, that was a very foolish thing to do," she scolded. "You could have broken your neck. On the other hand, that was also excellent flying, and a wonderful catch."

"I've flown before," said Alex modestly with a shrug. "And Charlie Weasley gave me some pointers when it turned out that I had some skill as a Seeker."

"Alex, you flew well the first time you were on a proper broom," pointed out Beth. "Even on a toy broom you were great. And Charlie himself said that you might be a better Seeker than him."

Alex flushed in embarrassment at the praise, while Madam Hooch looked him over appraisingly and said, "Well, well, it seems that we have a natural flier here. Anyway, Mr. Malfoy, five points from Slytherin for taking someone else's belonging and not returning it immediately. Mr. Romanov, five points from Gryffindor for not obeying me and five points to Gryffindor for the splendid dive and retrieving Mr. Longbottom's Remembrall. "

When class ended, Professor McGonagall asked to speak with Alex privately. Looking mystified, he followed her to her office, where he found a burly fifth-year boy that he knew vaguely as Oliver Wood, captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team.

McGonagall proceeded to explain that she had seen Alex catch the Remembrall from her window, and knew right away that he would be perfect as a Seeker on the Gryffindor team. However, as a first-year, he couldn't have his own broom at Hogwarts, and the rule couldn't be bent, not even for him. She gave Alex a signigicant look when she said that, and he knew she was referring to the fact that he was really Harry Potter. He also knew that the rest of the wizarding world didn't know, so it would raise questions if what appeared to be a regular first-year was allowed to bring a broom to school.

McGonagall continued on to say that as a compromise, Alex was allowed to be the reserve Seeker on the Gryffindor team. Next year, he would be allowed to be a full member of the team, as the current Seeker was a second-year boy that wasn't much good at it, though he was a very good flier. He was surprised to hear that he was even allowed to be on the team, since first-years usually never made it on the house teams, even as a reserve. The last one had been a century ago.

McGonagall and Wood concluded the meeting by telling Alex that as a reserve, he didn't have to attend all practices like the full members, but it would be best for him to go to at least one practice a week so that he could have experience working with the rest of the team and help Cormac McClaggen improve his Seeking skills. With that, the meeting ended and Alex left.

Beth, Ron, and Neville were delighted to hear that he was made reserve Seeker for the Gryffindor team. Hermione wasn't quite so pleased about it, pointing out, "You weren't supposed to go diving like that, Alex. Madam Hooch told you off for it, remember? You can't go around expecting to be rewarded every time you break a rule or something similar.:

"Look, I wasn't expecting to be made a reserve Seeker, Hermione!" snapped Alex. "Besides, what did you expect me to do when Malfoy decided to throw Neville's Remembrall like that? I couldn't very well Summon it, since we haven't learned the Summoning Charm yet. If I let it fall to the ground, it could have broken, and the Repairing Spell isn't one we've learned either. The only thing I could do was just go after it and try to catch it. And since I'm a pretty decent Seeker, I had a good chance of actually catching it."

"You're more than just pretty decent, Alex," interrupted Neville. "You're as good or better than Ron's brother Charlie, and he's good enough to play professionally for England. If he hadn't decided to work on a dragon preserve, he could have done so."

Alex only shrugged, because he wasn't the type to boast about his abilities. He generally downplayed them, and if he did say something like, "I'm a really good at Quidditch", it was always in a way that came across as a simple statement of fact, much like if he were saying that Luna had blonde hair, Mars was the fourth planet from the sun, or that July had thirty-one days, and not as if he was bragging. When it came to other people's accomplishments and skills, he had no problem with pride being apparent in his voice when talking about them, but not with himself.

At dinner, Malfoy, a sour look on his face, walked over to Alex, with Crabbe and Goyle following. "You think you're so wonderful, you halfblood Gypsy trash?" demanded Malfoy.

Neville glared at him and Ron opened his mouth to retort angrily, but Alex spoke first. "Compared to you, I am. Compared to someone like Professor Dumbledore or Merlin, I'm not. And could you please come up with more creative names to call me than 'halfblood Gypsy trash'? It really shows off your lack of imagination. I mean, I can come with things to call you besides 'prejudiced pureblood idiot', even if it is what you are, Malfoy."

A pink tinge appeared on Malfoy's cheek. "How dare you! I'm so much better than you in every way, Romanov. You're the one that's an idiot, considering who my father is and what he could do to you or your family."

"No one's ever going to lay a finger on any member of my family!" Alex snapped, going with cool and collected to angry in a flash, for he did not tolerate any threats to his family. He silently counted to ten in order to calm down and in a level tone of voice, added, "I really don't think much of you, Malfoy, if you have to bring your father up in your threats. Can't you ever do anything for yourself instead of hiding behind your family or those two idiots that follow you around?"

"Of course I can! I'd take you on anytime on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only — no contact."

"I'm not interested in dueling with a pathetic git like you," replied Alex coolly. "Just go away and figure out a way to be more imaginative and intimidating."

"Why, are you too scared to duel me?" demanded Malfoy. "Do you know that you're going to lose?"

"No, I simply just don't feel like fighting you!" snapped Alex, trying to keep a hold on his temper. "Just because I despise a person doesn't mean I go out to incite them into fighting me."

"You're too scared," insisted Malfoy, a smirk on his face. "You know you're going to lose the duel."

In order to shut Malfoy up and get him to go away, Alex retorted, "Fine, if you want to duel me so badly, we'll have a duel then!"

At that point, Beth and Ron said at the same time, "I'm your second, Alex." The two exchanged looks and then turned to Alex so he could decide. After a few seconds of thought, he chose Beth to be his second and asked Malfoy who his second was going to be.

Malfoy looked at Crabbe and Goyle, sizing them up. "Crabbe," he said. "Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room; that's always unlocked."

When they left, Hermione burst out, "Alex, what were you thinking? You _mustn't _go wandering around the school at night, think of the points you'll lose Gryffindor if you're caught, and you're bound to be. It's really very selfish of you. And Beth, I thought you had much more sense than to go along with your brother."

"This really isn't any of your business, Hermione," said Alex, annoyed. "Besides, I'm not going to duel Malfoy. I only said I would to get him to shut up and go away."

"But when you don't show up, he'll think you'll have chickened out," protested Neville.

"Nev, that's not going to happen. I would bet all my stuff that Malfoy's not going to show up either and is instead planning to use this as a way to get me and Beth in trouble. He's most likely going to tip off a teacher or Filch about how there will be students in the trophy room at midnight."

"Oh," said Neville, while Ron looked a bit disappointed at the fact that Alex and Malfoy weren't going to duel after all.

Beth whispered something to Hermione, who turned pink and then said to Alex, "I'm sorry about my outburst, Alex. I just didn't want you to get in trouble and lose points for Gryffindor. I didn't realize you figured out what Malfoy was up to."

"Apology accepted, Hermione," replied Alex with a sigh. While he was making an effort, he still found Hermione annoying at times, though at least Beth was there to tell her whenever she was being annoying and then she'd apologize for it.

After dinner, the quintet went to the Room of Requirement to do their homework and practice some spells. After a couple of hours of studying, Ron and Neville started a game of chess, Harry took out his journal and started writing in it, and Beth and Hermione became immersed in some books.

By the time they stopped, they realized that it was an hour past curfew. None of them were happy about this, especially Hermione, who was horrified at the idea of being out in the corridors after curfew and berated herself for not keeping track of the time. Fortunately for them, the Room of Requirement was on the same floor as the Gryffindor common room, so there was less chance of being caught. They managed to make their way back to the common room without running into a teacher, Filch, or his cat Mrs. Norris, to their relief.

The next morning, Alex walked over to the Slytherin table, a cheerful grin on his face. Malfoy looked confused by this until Alex said, "Oh, your little trick didn't work, Malfoy. I only said I'd duel you in order to get you to shut up and go away, and once you said to meet at the trophy room at midnight, I knew you just wanted to get me in trouble and weren't going to show up either. The next time you want to get me in trouble of some sort, try to be a bit more creative and sneaky about it."

Disappointment and anger flashed in Malfoy's face, proving Alex right, and then Malfoy hid it and snapped, "Go away, Romanov."

Potions class didn't turn out quite as well that day. Malfoy purposely knocked over the bottles with Alex's and Beth's samples of potion, breaking it and prompting Snape to sneer, "Well, well, looks like you get a zero for the day, Mr. and Miss Romanov. What a pity."

Alex and Beth strode back to their cauldron, intent on getting a new samples, but Goyle and Crabbe, probably purposely, tripped and knocked them over before they could. When Snape asked what had happened, Malfoy claimed that Alex and Beth had pushed Goyle and Crabbe, which resulted in five points taken from Gryffindor and the 'twins' being asked to stay behind.

Once the rest of class had left, Snape demanded, "Did you really push Goyle and Crabbe or not? Because I would hate to find out that you really are a bully like your biological father, Mr. Romanov."

"Of course not, Professor Snape," answered Alex. "I wasn't raised to be a bully. And neither was Beth."

Snape sighed. "All right then. The five points I took are restored to Gryffindor. As for the potion samples that Malfoy broke, there is nothing I can do about that, but I will not actually give you two zeroes like I said in class. You are dismissed."

That evening, Alex had his first Quidditch practice. Fred and George Weasley were the Beaters, while the Chasers were Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, both third-years, and a second-year girl named Katie Bell. The Seeker, Cormac McClaggen, was rather unpleasant. While he was an excellent flier, he didn't have the build of a Seeker and looked more suited to be a Beater or Keeper, and was not happy at the fact that a first-year was on the team, even as a reserve. He made snide marks about it until Alex proved that he was a far better Seeker. After that, Cormac looked sulky about having to learn from a first-year, and tried to act like he knew more about Quidditch than everyone else. It was clear that the only reason he was on the team, besides the fact that the rules couldn't be bent for Alex, was that nobody else who tried out for Seeker was any good at it.

None of the other members were happy with McClaggen as part of their team, and from Fred and George's expressions, they would have loved to hit the bludgers at him if it weren't for the fact they needed him concious and unhurt to catch the Snitch. When practice ended, a very grumpy team returned to the castle. Wood and the Weasley twins were grumbling about the fact that Alex couldn't become a full member, and the Chasers wished that McClaggen didn't have to be on the team.

Author's note: Sorry about the time it took to update. I was busy with other things. If anyone has any ideas as to how Harry/Alex is to find out about Fluffy, please tell me in a review or PM. I would have had them find out when they stayed in the Room of Requirement until after curfew, but then realized that since it and the Gryffindor common room were both on the seventh floor, it wouldn't make any sense for them to end up in the third floor, even if Filch or a teacher were nearby.


	8. A New Friend

Chapter Summary: Harry/Alex and his friends find out that something is hidden at Hogwarts, and an incident occurs that cements Hermione's place in the group of friends.

September passed quite pleasantly. Alex enjoyed being at Hogwarts, and getting to see his older cousins more often, as they made a point of spending a few minutes at mealtimes to talk with him and Beth, or having them over at their house tables. The only exception was Ivan, who never sat with the other Slytherins except during the feasts, and instead sat with his friends at the Gryffindor or Hufflepuff tables. There was no rule that prevented students from sitting at other house tables, and according to _Hogwarts, a History_, the Founders had encouraged tghe mixing of houses, so nobody other than the Slytherins said anything about it, though never where Professor Snape or another teacher could hear.

On the first of October, at dinnertime, Fred and George asked to speak privately with Alex and Beth after dinner. Ivan, who was sitting next to them, mouthed, "They figured things out," by way of explanation. Beth and Alex exchanged puzzled looks, as Ivan would never reveal that Alex was really Harry Potter and they couldn't think of any other way to be found out.

That question was answered when they went to an empty classroom and Ivan did a Silencing Charm on it so that they wouldn't be overheard. Fred pulled out a blank piece of parchment and asked, "I expect that you two know what this is, based on what Remus told you?" He then proceeded to tap it with his wand and said, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

"That's the Marauder's Map!" exclaimed Alex. "But how did you get a hold of it? Remus said that Filch confiscated it from the Marauders at the end of their seventh year."

"Nicked it out of Filch's office in first year," replied George. "Fred and I had gotten in trouble for setting off Dungbombs on some Slytherins. Specifically ones that were making fun of Ivan."

"When Filch dragged us into his office, we saw a drawer marked 'Confiscated and HighlynDangerous' in there," continued Fred.

"Ah," said Beth in understanding. "So you immediately had to see what was in that drawer. I suppose one of you created a diversion and the other one grabbed the Map?"

Fred nodded and George continued, "We then shared it with Ivan and Cedric and the four of us were able to work out how to use it."

"Then why isn't Cedric here?" asked Alex. "If he knows about the Map, then shouldn't he have also figured who I really am?"

"Because he wasn't there when Fred and George figured things out," answered Ivan. "The only one they told was me, because I'm related to you. And we're not going to tell Cedric unless you give us permission."

"How exactly did you guys figure out it?" inquired Beth. "I know you must have seen the name 'Harry Potter' on the Map, but that's not enough to figure out it's Alex."

"Well, we happened to see the name 'Harry Potter' in the area labeled as the Gryffindor common room," said Fred.

"That made us realize that Harry Potter was actually at Hogwarts, but was pretending to be someone else," continued George.

"At first we thought it might be Dean Thomas or Seamus Finnigan, but then their names showed up," said Fred.

"So then we figured it had to be either Neville or Alex, and when Alex's name didn't show up, we knew it was him," concluded George.

"Oh," said Alex faintly, looking at Beth and Ivan. "Er, you're not going to tell anyone, are you?"

"Of course not!" exclaimed Fred. "It's your secret and you decide who gets to know it or not."

"Besides, it's quite funny how you're under everyone's noses and they don't know it," said George with a grin.

Fred nodded in agreement. "If this keeps up, it could be the longest running prank in history. Oh, and does anyone else know outside of your adopted family and Remus?"

"Ron, Neville, Ginny, and Luna do," responded Beth. "Alex told them the day before we left for Hogwarts."

"We thought so," said George. "It made sense that you would let your closest friends in on the secret."

Ivan took the Map from Fred and handed it to Alex. "We've decided that since you are the son of a Marauder, you deserve to have this, but would you mind letting us borrow it every once in awhile?"

"Sure, you guys can borrow it, and thanks very much," replied Alex, looking down at the Map with a smile. He was glad to have found out where the Marauder's Map was, and didn't really mind that Fred and George had found out his secret, as they were completely trustworthy when it came to keeping other people's secrets, except maybe for people like Malfoy.

Ivan exchanged looks with the Weasley twins, and then said, "Oh, and don't ever go to the third floor corridor, Alex and Beth. Those two idiots talked me into going with them to checking it out, and when we got there and magically unlocked the door, it turned out that there is a giant Cerberus locked up there."

"You mean a three-headed dog like the one that guarded the Underworld in Greek mythology?" asked Beth in shock.

Fred nodded. "We high-tailed it out of there right away, making sure to shut and lock up the door again first."

"Ivan says that he noticed the Cerberus standing on a trapdoor just before we ran off," added George. "So it's probably guarding something."

"But please just forget about it," begged Ivan. "What it's guarding is really none of our business."

"Okay," said Alex with a shrug, though he was inwardly wondering about it all. "I guess you'll tell Vera and Cara that Fred and George know about my secret?"

"Yes," answered Ivan. "Well, see you later guys." He removed the Silencing Charm on the room and he and the Weasley twins left.

In the Room of Requirement, Alex and Beth told their friends about how Ivan and the Weasley twins had found out what was in the third-floor corridor and that it was probably guarding something, most likely whatever it was that Hagrid removed from Gringotts. Hermione was highly disapproving of it, but as it had already happened, there was nothing she could do about it, except complain until even Beth lost patience and snapped, "Hermione Jean Granger, that is enough! There is nothing you can do now, so please shut up about it!"

Later on, when Hermione and Beth had gone to bed, Alex told Neville and Ron that Fred and George had figured things out due to having the Marauder's Map and promised to keep it a secret.

The next few weeks passed without incident, except for the occasional headaches that Alex was getting in Defense Against Dark Arts class. Twice, his hidden scar flared with pain before it disappeared. He had absolutely no idea why it was happening, and nobody else in his family did either, though Grandma Lise admitted in a letter that a curse scar like his was quite different and so nobody knew much about it to begin with.

When Halloween arrived, Alex felt conflicted. He had enjoyed celebrating the holiday before, but now that he knew that it was the day that his biological parents had been murdered by Voldemort, it wasn't so great any more. He loved his adopted family and the life he had with them, but it would have been nice to have been raised by his birth parents.

Beth seemed to know what he was thinking, for she took him aside right after breakfast and said, "Don't dwell too much on it, Alex. It's not your fault that they died. They were willing to do anything to protect you, just like how Mum and Dad are perfectly willing to do anything to protect us right now, and Voldemort is a foul git that deserves to burn in Hell."

He cheered up a bit, enough to enjoy Charms class, which was learning how to levitate objects. Alex was partnered with Neville and the two of them tried to levitate the feather they were given. Neither of them had much luck doing so.

Hermione was partnered with Ron, and they weren't that happy about it. Ron still wasn't getting along with her most of the time, and since she did come across as annoying half the time, Alex could see why. This turned out to be one of the times when she came across as annoying.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron shouted, waving his long arms like a windmill.

"You're saying it wrong," Alexheard Hermione snap. "It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."

"You do it, then, if you're so clever," Ron snarled.

Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her robes, flicked her wand, and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Their feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads.

"Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"

Ron was in a very bad mood by the end of the class.

"It's no wonder most people can't stand her," he said to Alex as they pushed their way into the crowded corridor, "she's a nightmare, honestly."

Someone knocked into Alex as they hurried past him. It was Hermione. Alex caught a glimpse of her face — and was startled to see that she was in tears.

"I think she heard you, Ron," he said in a disapproving tone, for he would never say anything like that about another person, except maybe Malfoy.

"So?" said Ron, but he looked a bit uncomfortable. "She must've noticed she's got no friends besides Beth**."**

"Ronald Bilius Weasley!" snapped Beth, glaring furiously at him. "You are the most insensitive git ever!" With that, she ran after Hermione.

Ron stared after Beth, then turned to look at Alex and Neville. "But Hermione is rather annoying," he protested.

"That still doesn't give you the right to say what you just did, especially in her hearing," scolded Neville. "She was only trying to help you."

"And Hermione only comes across as annoying because of her strong desire to prove herself and she doesn't really know how to act around people her own age since she's never had any real friends before," pointed out Alex. "I'm pretty sure if I hadn't been adopted by the Romanovs, I wouldn't have had any friends before Hogwarts, either. My blood relatives would no doubt have made sure of that, considering that they hate magic and didn't want me in the first place."

Ron turned scarlet and muttered, "I'll apologize to Hermione later."

"You'd better," said Neville.

However, Hermione didn't turn up for the next class and wasn't seen all afternoon, and neither was Beth. On their way down to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, the three boys overheard Parvati Patil telling her friend Lavender that Hermione was crying in the girls' bathroom with Beth comforting her. Alex halted and glared at Ron. "Now look. You've upset Hermione so much that she's been crying all afternoon. I'm going to go help Beth. I hope your conscience is happy, Ron."

"I'm going too," said Neville, giving Ron a look.

Ron gave a sigh. "I'm sorry that I was so rude!"

"Well, you should be telling Hermione that, not us," snapped Alex, turning around.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming with you guys," said Ron. "But if we're missing the feast, then can we at least go to the kitchens later and get some food?"

"Yes, Ron," said Neville, rolling his eyes. The three of them set off to find Hermione and Beth, finally using the Marauder's Map when they went to three girls' bathrooms and not finding them there.

Once the three boys reached the correct girls' bathroom, they got Hermione and Beth to come out. Beth glared at Ron, but didn't say anything. After a moment of silence, except for Hermione's sobs, Ron akwardly said, "I'm really sorry, Hermione. I shouldn't have said what I did." Hermione wiped her eyes, but still continued to cry.

Beth said severely, "What you said upset Hermione a great deal, Ronald. If it weren't for the fact that you've been my friend for ages and you're trustworthy enough to keep secrets, I'd stop being your friend at once. As it is, I didn't bother making any excuses for your behavior to Hermione."

"Look, I'm sorry!" cried Ron. "I didn't mean what I said! Well, okay, Hermione does come across as annoying often, but I'm trying to get past that!"

"Well, you're not trying hard enough, since you're always bickering with her," retorted Beth. "And it's not her fault if she appears annoying to you. What about you, Nev and Alex?"

"We don't have a problem with her," said Alex. "Well, I agree that she does seem annoying sometimes, but I also see that she's making an effort not to be."

"She's nice and I like her, and not just because of her help in Transfiguration and Charms," added Neville.

Ron turned to Hermione. "I really, truly, am sorry about what I said, Hermione. I get that you were trying to help me in class, it's just that the way you were going about it annoyed me. Please forgive me."

Hermione sniffed and responded, "I don't know."

"Ron's being sincere," pointed out Alex. "And he really is a good and true friend, but just has a problem with tact. Everyone has flaws, after all."

"Okay, I guess I forgive you, Ron. But don't expect me to be instant friends with you. What you said hurt me and - what is that smell?"

The others sniffed the air and made faces. "Ugh!" exclaimed Neville, holding his nose. "Did all the toilets get blocked up?"

Beth gasped and pointed. "A troll's coming this way! Hide!"

The five of them ducked into the bathroom, exchanging panicked looks and wondering what a troll was doing in Hogwarts. Unfortunately, a couple of minutes later, the troll came in. Hermione screamed, while Neville looked like he wanted to faint. The troll advanced, smashing a stall and two sinks with its club as it went.

"Do something!" shouted Beth, grabbing a broken tile and throwing it at the troll. Neville grabbed a tap and did the same.

Ron raised his wand and cried the first spell that came into his head: "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The club flew suddenly out of the troll's hand, rose high, high up into the air, turned slowly over — and dropped, with a sickening crack, onto its owner's foot. The troll let out a bellow of pain. At the same time, Alex came up with an idea. "Petrify it! We've been practicing the Full-Body Bind, remember?"

The five of them pointed their wands at the troll and shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!" One most likely wouldn't have been enough to affect the troll, especially since they were first-years and trolls had some immunity to magic, but the five spells combined was enough to petrify the troll. It stiffened and fell to the floor with a crash.

The five of them lowered their wands and stared at each other in shock, not quite believing that they had actually managed to take down a troll. "I can't believe it!" muttered Neville, voicing what they were all thinking. "We actually defeated a troll."

A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made them look up. They hadn't realized what a racket they had been making, but of course, someone downstairs must have heard the crashes and the troll's roars. A moment later, Professor McGonagall had come bursting into the room, closely followed by Snape, with Quirrell bringing up the rear. Quirrell took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper, and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart.

Snape bent over the troll. Professor McGonagall was looking at the five Gryffindors. Alex had never seen her look so angry. Her lips were white.

"What on earth were you five thinking of?" said Professor McGonagall, with cold fury in her voice. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"

"We didn't know we were supposed to be there," answered Beth in a tiny voice. "We weren't at the feast and didn't know about the troll until it showed up."

"And why weren't you at the feast?" demanded McGonagall.

"I was upset about something and Beth was comforting me," replied Hermione.

"But that does not explain why the three others are here," pointed out McGonagall.

"It was because of me, Professor," said Ron. "I got annoyed and said something I didn't mean to Hermione. On the way to the feast, we heard Parvati tell Lavender that Hermione was upset and Beth was comforting her. Neville and Alex decided to help comfort her, and I came to apologize. While we were talking, the troll showed up."

"The five of us hid in the bathroom, but the troll came in and we had no choice but to fight it or get seriously injured or killed," added Alex.

McGonagall appeared to soften slightly. "Well, that changes things. Mr. Weasley, ten points from Gryffindor for your rudeness to Miss Granger, as that would have meant that this would have never happened. And the five of you each get ten points for Gryffindor, as not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. If you're not hurt at all, then you may go now to Gryffindor tower. The students are finishing the feast in their houses."

The five of them hurriedly left, but didn't go to the common room. Instead, they went to the Room of Requirement, where they had some food magically transported from the kitchens, since food couldn't be conjured, and sat down at the round table and chairs provided.

Hermione said at once, "I fully forgive you, Ron, and want to be your friend."

"Thanks, Hermione," said Ron. "And I really am-"

"There's no need to apologize again, Ron," interrupted Hermione. "Besides, you were willing to miss the feast in order to come apologize, and we all know how much you like to eat."

"But if I hadn't insulted you in the first place, we wouldn't have faced a troll," pointed out Ron.

"Look on the bright side, you know the Levitation Charm now, Ron," said Neville.

"Yeah, maybe we should threaten you with a troll the next time you don't get a spell," joked Alex.

"Oh shut up, Alex," said Ron good-naturedly. "Hey, why don't we swear eternal friendship again? We did it when we first became friends, but now that Hermione's joined us-"

"That's a great idea!" exclaimed Beth. The five of them joined hands and said at the same time, "We swear to be true friends for all eternity.'

As soon as they finished speaking, a gold cord appeared around each of their wrists. It disappeared a few seconds later as they stared at each other in awe.

"That didn't happen when we first promised to be friends," said Neville. "What does it mean?"

"It means that our friendship is really strong," answered Beth. "Remus told us that when the Marauders promised to be friends, gold cords appeared around their wrists. Too bad it didn't last."

"Well, this friendship is going to last," said Alex firmly. "And we're going to let Hermione in on my secret. Hermione, I wasn't born Alexander Romanov. I was adopted when I was one."

Hermione gasped, her intelligent mind making the connection. "You don't mean that you're really Harry Potter? Everyone's looking for you! And where's your scar?"

"It's hidden," responded Alex. He asked the Room to provide a basin of water and a towel and scrubbed at his forehead, since the month was almost up and he was going to have to reapply the cream the next morning. Hermione gasped again when she saw the scar.

After Alex had reapplied the cream, he explained about how the Romanovs had taken him in, given him an Adoption Potion so that he'd look like the family, and revealed the truth when he'd turned eleven and gotten his Hogwarts letter. Hermione promised to keep the secret, understanding why he didn't want to reveal himself, even when most of the wizarding world was looking for him. The five of them then filled their plates and started eating, talking and relaxing at the same time. They decided to call themselves the "Gryffindor Quintet", since they couldn't come up with anything else that didn't end up being similiar to the Marauders. They had a wonderful time, and when they finally returned to the Gryffindor common room, Alex reflected that facing a troll had turned out to be good after all, as it had brought the Gryffindor Quintet together.


	9. A New Set of Revelations

Chapter Summary: Gryffindor and Slytherin have their first Quidditch match, the Gryffindor Quintet find out that the three-headed dog belongs to Hagrid and is definitely guarding something. Harry/Alex and Beth also find out some stuff about Snape from their maternal grandparents when they go home for the Christmas holidays.

After the troll incident, Hermione relaxed and wasn't as annoying as before. Knowing that she had real friends that wouldn't desert her probably was the cause of that. However, that didn't stop her and Ron from still bickering sometimes. The others didn't comment on this, as they'd realized that Ron's and Hermione's personalities were the sort that made it inevitable that they'd clash with each other but didn't stop them from being friends.

Draco Malfoy and his two cronies continued to cause trouble for the Gryffindor Quintet, though they focused more on Alex and Beth than they did the other three. Thrice Malfoy set things up in Potions class so that Alex and Beth got in trouble and were assigned detention. However, Snape knew perfectly well that the two weren't at fault, so the 'detentions' merely consisted of a few hours spent brewing potions and preparing ingredients.

When they didn't have to concentrate on the brewing, Snape told Alex some things about Lily Evans and the friendship they had, since Remus could really only tell things from when he and Lily were prefects together and later on when she was with James Potter.

"You and Mum Lily actually lived in the same town?" asked Alex in surprise when he heard that. He had settled on calling his biological mother 'Mum Lily' to differentiate her from his adoptive one. "So that means you knew her and became friends with her before Hogwarts. Uncle Niko thought you and Mum Lily had met on the Hogwarts Express and became friends that way."

"Yes, Lily and I lived in the same town," responded Snape. "And I suppose your uncle is Nikolas Petrov? He was two years above me and one of the few Slytherins that stood up for me against the Marauders. The other Slytherins would have, except they didn't like the fact that I was friends with a Gryffindor and Muggleborn."

"Professor Snape, if you don't mind, could you tell us why your friendship with Alex's Mum Lily ended?" asked Beth timidly. "Uncle Niko said it happened at the end of your fifth year, and that all he could get out of you the next day was that the friendship was ruined and she refused to forgive you."

Snape said nothing for a minute. Finally, in a tight voice, he said, "I had a run-in with the Marauders. Lily rescued me from it, but I was so upset and embarrassed that I called her a name that I didn't mean. I tried apologizing to her after, but she wouldn't listen to me, especially as I was starting to hang out with some other Slytherins that weren't nice like your uncle."

Alex could only think of one name that would upset his birth so much that she'd end a friendship, and that was 'Mudblood'. While he understood completely, he also felt that it was a rotten thing of his mother to not forgive Snape. Things could have turned out very differently if she hadn't ended the friendship. And besides, Snape didn't mean what he'd said, and it had been said only in anger and embarrassment. After all, Hermione forgave Ron for the stuff he'd said about her in anger. Then again, he hadn't called her a 'Mudblood', and the incident with the troll followed after he'd apologized, so the situation wasn't quite the same.

Alex opened his mouth to voice his thoughts, but Beth nudged him into silence. He looked at her, confused, then realized that she had sensed that it was a touchy subject for Snape and he probably didn't want to get any further into it. The rest of the 'detention' continued in silence, except for whenever one of them asked for an ingredient or tool to be passed over.

When the two were heading back to the common room, Alex said quietly, "I would never end a friendship unless my friend betrayed me, like Sirius Black did to my birth parents. I understand why Mum Lily did what she did, but I couldn't do that. It's obvious Professor Snape never got over it."

Beth nodded. "But if the friendship didn't end, do you think she would have ended up with James Potter? I get the feeling that Professor Snape might have developed feelings beyond friendship for her, and if they had remained together, maybe she would have returned them. Then you would never be born, or you'd be Harry Snape, not Harry Potter."

Alex shuddered at the thought, then hastily changed the subject. "Did you notice that Professor Snape was limping? I wonder what happened to his leg."

"Who knows?" replied Beth with a shrug. "Maybe he twisted his ankle or something and hasn't gotten around to having Madam Pomfrey mend it."

The reason for Snape's limping was answered the next day, courtesy of Ivan. At dinnertime, he told his cousins that he had to see Professor Snape about something. However, the Head of Slytherin wasn't in his office, so Ivan had then gone to the staff room. He found Snape there, being handed bandages by Filch for a leg injury, and making a comment about how hard it was to keep track of three heads at once. After that, Snape had spotted Ivan and instantly lowered his robes over the injured leg. When Ivan stammered that he had a matter to disciss with Snape, the head had snapped for him to leave and that they'd talk later.

The Gryffindor Quintet surmised that Snape had faced the three-headed dog, and that the troll on Halloween must have been set loose as a diversion. However, they didn't know if Snape was after whatever it was the Cerberus guarding, or if he was trying to stop the person that was. His public persona made him seem like the former type, but his private persona was more the latter. Also, Ivan said that he didn't think his Head of House would do anything evil like that, and that in private with the Slytherins, he was just and a fair, though quite strict like McGonagall. The only problem was that none of them had any real idea as to who would be after whatever was hidden. Yes, Professor Quirrell was the one that reported the troll, but he was scared of just about anything, including his own shadow, and so didn't seem the type. In the end, the matter was dropped.

The second Saturday in November was the first Quidditch match, between Gryffindor and Slytherin. It turned out not so great for the Gryffindors, and Alex felt frustrated watching in the stands, wishing that he was a full member or that McClaggen had gotten sick or a detention so that he could substitute for him. The Gryffindor Chasers were very good, Oliver Wood was able to block most of Slytherin's attempts at scoring, and the Weasley twins were fantastic Beaters, but McClaggen was simply awful. Half the time he didn't even look for the Snitch and tried telling the rest of the team what to do. Wood yelled at him, but this didn't have much affect on him.

Finally, in complete exasperation, one the Weasley twins hit a Bludger at McClaggen, effectively knocking him out. It was clear that he wasn't going to catch the Snitch regardless, so the Gryffindor team decided that they'd rather just play without him. Five minutes after that, Terrence Higgs, the Slytherin Seeker, caught the Snitch, ending the game. Slytherin won, one hundred ninety points to one hundred twenty, so the loss wasn't too bad for Gryffindor.

From the look on McGonagall's face, Alex suspected that she would do something to keep McClaggen from playing in Gryffindor's next match, such as giving him a detention, so that Alex would have to play instead. This didn't bother him, as he really wanted to play in a match, and McClaggen was really awful. Even if he played a position that he was suited for, he still probably wouldn't do a good job, as he'd be too busy trying to tell everyone else what to do and acting as if he was the Captain instead of Wood.

After the match, the Gryffindor Quintet went to visit Hagrid, who served them tea, sandwiches, and treacle fudge. While they were talking, Alex suddenly remembered that Hagrid had a fondness for large and dangerous animals. "Hagrid, do you happen to know why there's a three-headed dog guarding something at Hogwarts?"

Hagrid dropped his mug in shock. "How do yeh know abou' Fluffy?"

"_Fluffy_?" asked Ron incredulously. "That beast has a name?"

"Yeah," answered Hagrid. "He's mine,— bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year — I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the —"

"Guard the what?" asked Neville eagerly.

"Now, don't ask me anymore," said Hagrid gruffly. "That's top secret, that is."

"Well, someone is after whatever's hidden," said Hermione. "It could be Snape, since he had a run-in with Fluffy, or someone else is and Snape was trying to stop him or her."

"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" said Hagrid hotly. "Snape isn't after it, and neither is anyone else! Now, listen to me, all tive of yeh — yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel —"

"Ah!" exclaimed Beth, "so there's someone named Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"

Hagrid looked furious with himself and shortly after, shooed the quintet out of his house.

The next couple of weeks the Gryffindor Quintet spent much of their spare time in the library, trying to find out who Nicolas Flamel was. Alex remembered reading the name somewhere, but he couldn't remember where. However, it was quite difficult, since there were thousands upon thousands of books in the library, and they didn't know what Flamel might have done to get himself into a book. He wasn't in _Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century_, or _Notable Magical Names of Our Time_; he was missing, too, from _Important Modern Magical Discoveries_, and _A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry_.

While this was going on, Hanukkah arrived. Aunt Sarah sent a couple of packages of latkes, doughnuts, and other fried foods, which Beth and Alex shared around with their friends, and small gifts of books, hats, and scarves. Vera and Ivan, who had a Jewish upbringing along with the Romany one, lit the menorah every evening for the entire eight nights and recited the customary prayers, while their cousins and friends watched on. Anthony Goldstein, a Ravenclaw first-year, joined them, as he was also Jewish.

The Christmas holidays arrived not long after that and most of the student population went home. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were going to Romania to visit Charlie, so Ron was staying with Alex's family for the holidays, while Fred and George were at Ivan's house and Percy was at Cara's home.

The first evening back, Beth asked the rest of the family and Remus if they knew who Nicolas Flamel was, claiming that she had come across the name in a book, but didn't know anything more about him. Aunt Maria replied, "If I remember correctly, he's an alchemist. Isn't that right, Ana? You know more about potion-related subjects than I do."

Ana nodded. "Yes, he's an alchemist. He's the only known creator of the Philosopher's Stone, an object that can turn any metal into gold and produce the Elixir of Life, which enables the drinker to be immortal. Or at least, immortal as long as he or she continues to take the Elixir every so often."

"So that's what must be hidden at Hogwarts!" burst out Alex.

"What are you talking about, Alex?" asked Grandmum Lise.

With a sigh, Alex explained everything, with some help from Beth, Ron, and Ivan. When they finished, Stephan said, "Well, now that you've figured things out, please don't go any further into it. You're meddling in things that don't concern you, like Hagrid said. However, we will speak to Professor Dumbledore about the advisability of hiding the Philosopher's Stone in a school full of children, even if Hogwarts is the safest place to hide something, along with Gringotts."

"And Severus Snape would never go after the Stone," said Granddad Vladek firmly. "He may have made mistakes in his life, but he would never go against Dumbledore."

"Nor would he ever want eternal life, from what I've seen of him," added Granny Ilsa.

"How would you know that?" asked Beth.

"We just know," said Granny Ilsa, and her tone of voice made it clear that the subject was closed.

After dinner, however, Granny Ilsa and Granddad Vladek took Alex and Beth aside. Granddad Vladek said, "What we are about to tell you must not be spread around. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Granddad Vladek," replied the 'twins' at the same time.

Granny Ilsa sighed deeply. "Severus Snape's childhood wasn't as wonderful as yours. He may have had Lily for a friend and a mother that loved him, but his father wasn't exactly nice. Tobias Snape was a Muggle, and sometime after his marriage to Eileen Prince, he started hating magic. I gather he also started drinking. I suppose you can guess what happened."

Alex winced. "So Professor Snape's childhood was like what mine might have been if my biological relatives had decided to keep me. That's awful!"

Granny Ilsa nodded and continued, "Severus's mother died sometime during his fifth year at Hogwarts. Then his friendship with Lily Potter ended. Your Uncle Niko became very concerned for him, and as he already suspected that Severus didn't have a good home life, insisted on having him stay with us for the summer holidays."

Granddad Vladek shook his head. "Poor Severus. He really was quite awful, but Ilsa and I were able to help him. He eventually opened up to us somewhat, and I guess he started seeing us as surrogate parents by the end of the holidays. Unfortunately, the other Slytherins were a bad influence on him during his last two years at Hogwarts, and he made a horrible mistake not long after he graduated. We had told him that he was free to come to us if he needed anything at all, so he appeared on our doorstep right after he'd made the mistake."

"What was the horrible mistake?" asked Alex.

Granny Ilsa sighed again. "He got caught up with supporters of You-Know-Who, and ended up taking the Dark Mark. Once he did, he felt awful about it, and not knowing who else to turn to, came to us. We took him in, did our best to heal him, and made it very clear that we didn't blame him at all for his actions. Vladek taught him Occulemency so that You-Know-Who wouldn't be able to look into his mind and see that he regretted what he did, and Severus pretended to be a loyal Death Eater. Fortunately, his skills as a Potions Master was greatly valued, so he rarely had to take part in any of the atrocities that You-Know-Who instigated. Severus passed on information of the Death Eater's activities whenever he could, which we in turn told Dumbledore, who then saw to preventing them from happening."

"After it turned out that You-Know-Who was going to target you and your biological parents, Alex, Severus came to us again," said Granddad Vladek. "However, there was nothing we could do about it, so we advised him to go to Professor Dumbledore. Ever since then, Severus has been a spy for Professor Dumbledore, and for the sake of your birth mother, has vowed to do his best to protect you. Obviously he wasn't told about you until you started Hogwarts, but the one Christmas he spent with us, right after You-Know-Who's defeat, we did tell him that we had seen to it that you were safe and well. That helped comfort him somewhat over Lily's death. Ever since, he will occasionally write to us, and we write back and Ilsa sends him packages of food. We've invited him to visit us, but he generally refuses, saying that he's busy with things for Dumbledore or his classes, or brewing potions for the Hospital Wing."

Alex and Beth exchanged looks. "Poor Professor Snape," said Beth softly. "No wonder he's the way he is."

Alex shuddered, knowing that things could have been very different if the Dursleys had decide to keep him despite their not wanting him. His childhood could have been like Professor Snape's. Actually, it could have been worse, since Snape had a mother that loved him and no doubt did her best to protect him from his father, but Alex's biological aunt and uncle both hated magic and so there would have been nobody he could turn to. Then once he got to Hogwarts, he would probably either make friends with the wrong people because he was desperate to have some, or he'd be wary of others and not have real friends at all.

Granny Ilsa must have guessed what Alex was thinking, for she pulled him in a tight hug and said soothingly, "Don't dwell too much on what could have happened, Alex. Things turn out the way they do for a reason and we can't change it once it happens. You were lucky enough to have a good childhood, while Severus was unfortunate enough to have a bad one."

"All right, Granny Ilsa," said Alex quietly, suddenly remembering that his grandparents didn't always have wonderful lives. After all, they had survived the Holocaust and World War II, while the rest of their families hadn't been so lucky. Granny Ilsa's parents had been Squibs, which was why they couldn't use magic to escape the Nazis, and she had only survived due to luck and determination and the fact that she and Grandmum Lise were friends and stayed together, helping each other whenever possible.

After a couple minutes of silence, Beth and Alex left the room, thinking about what their maternal grandparents had told them about Professor Snape.


	10. A Wonderful Christmas

Chapter Summary: Harry/Alex gets an unexpected Christmas present, tells Hermione and Neville about the Philosopher's Stone, and returns to Hogwarts after the holidays end.

The next day, when Neville came to visit, Beth, Alex, and Ron told him that they had found out who Nicolas Flamel was. They then proceeded to explain everything Beth's mother had told them, and concluded with the fact that it was most likely the Philosopher's Stone that was hidden at Hogwarts. With Hermione, they couldn't exactly tell her right out in a letter, just in case the information ended up in the wrong hands. However, they came up with a way to get around this. Beth was able to borrow a book on alchelmy that had a chapter devoted to Nicolas Flamel and the Philosopher's Stone from her mother, and sent it to Hermione, with a note asking her to read it as soon as possible and to return it when she was done. A postscript advised her not to discuss the contents of the book with them in a letter.

On Christmas Day, Aunt Maria and Uncle Tobias held the annual gathering of the families. Luna and her father joined them, which they had done ever since Mrs. Lovegood's death due to a spell experimentation gone wrong. Alex was very surprised when he found his biological father's invisibility cloak among his presents, and looked over at Remus, who said, "I didn't give it to you, Alex. I expect that it was Professor Dumbledore, since I remember that James lent the cloak to him."

"I'll write Professor Dumbledore a thank-you note then," said Alex, admiring the cloak. Then he looked pleadingly at his adoptive parents. "Mum, Dad, can I please keep it?"

Ana and Stephan exchanged looks and finally Ana said, "You may, as long as you don't use it to go around causing trouble. If we find out that you're using it to go around breaking school rules, then we're taking it away and you won't be allowed to have it with you at Hogwarts. Is that understood, Alexander Jacob Harry James Potter Romanov?"

"Yes, Mum," replied Alex, understanding that she was very serious, since she had used his full name plus his birth name. "I swear I won't use it to cause any trouble."

"Good," said Ana. "And that goes for you too, Elisabeth Ilse Romanov. Alex is not to lend it to you so you can go around causing trouble, either."

After breakfast, Hermione contacted Beth and Alex via the mirror they had gotten her as a present. The two, plus Neville, and Ron, had gotten mirrors linked to each other a couple years previous so that they could talk to each other whenever they were grounded and couldn't see each other, and the four of them had decided to include Hermione in it now. Therefore, Alex and Beth had gotten a mirror, and with some help from their parents, had spelled it so that it was linked to the other mirrors, was unbreakable, and would never be lost, as it would always be in Hermione's pocket or otherwise near at hand.

"Merry Christmas and thanks for the gift, Alex and Beth!" exclaimed Hermione happily, her face beaming out of Beth's mirror. "Oh, I read the book you sent me, and figured out what you meant by sending it. So it's the Philosopher's Stone that's being hidden at Hogwarts?"

"Yeah," answered Alex, nodding. "Mum and Aunt Maria told us who Nicolas Flamel when we asked, and since we didn't want to risk a letter with the info getting intercepted, we sent the book instead. But we're not going to get any more involved in it. Dad asked us to stop meddling in things that don't concern us and leave it to Professor Dumbledore to worry about."

"All right, then," said Hermione. "Actually, it is best that Professor Dumbledore handle things, since we are only first-years."

"Oh, Professor Snape isn't after the Stone," added Beth. "You can't tell anyone else, but our grandparents told us that he's not that type of person. He was Granny Ilsa's apprentice at her apothecary for a couple of summers, since you need to be apprenticed with a Potions Master or Mistress for at least four months as a requirement to achieve a potions mastery. So our families got to know him and helped him with things." However, as promised, she didn't reveal that Snape had made the mistake of becoming a Death Eater, instantly repenting what he had done, and after Granny Ilsa and Granddad Vladek had helped him recover, had become a spy on Voldemort for the side of good. Even though Hermione was trustworthy and could keep her mouth shut, Snape wouldn't appreciate having more people know his secrets.

"That's a relief," sighed Hermione. "I really didn't like the idea of Professor Snape being after the Philosopher's Stone, even if his behavior in public makes him seem more like the type. Well, I'm going to talk with Ron and Neville and help Mum make Christmas dinner, so I'll talk to you guys later. See you."

Alex, Beth, their cousins, Luna, and the Weasleys went outside, split up into two teams, and had a rousing snowball fight with a couple of snow forts they built. Luna, being Luna, lobbed a few snowballs into the air occasionally, claiming that there were Wrackspurts around and she was trying to get rid of them. None of them commented on this, for they were used to her sometimes weird behavior.

After the snowball fight, in which the team consisting of Alex, Beth, Ron, Luna, David, and Jonas barely managed to win, was the Christmas dinner. There was one very large turkey, about the size of the one that Ebenezer Scrooge had bought and sent to the Cratchits in _A Christmas Carol_, a mountain of mashed potatoes with plenty of gravy to go with it, stuffing, a platter of green beans, another of mixed vegetables, and for dessert, flaming plum pudding, Christmas cake, and apple pie.

Feeling rather stuffed after the feast, Alex spent the afternoon playing chess (he lost the game he played against Ron, ended in a draw against Beth, and managed to win a game against David), and then a game of Monopoly (Cara ended up winning, with five properties and an utility and nine thousand thirty pounds). There was a tea consisting of sandwiches made from the leftover turkey, and the leftover dessert. In the evening, everyone bundled up and went to the town of Ottery St. Catchpole, where they walked around and sang carols.

The rest of the holidays passed quite pleasantly. Alex tried out his invisibility cloak, and scared some of his cousins a couple of times by sneaking up on them while wearing it and shouting "Boo!" or grabbing them for fun, but otherwise kept his promise of not using it to cause trouble. Neville came over a few times, or Alex, Beth, and Ron would visit him, and Hermione used her five-way mirror a few more times to talk with them.

The only not-so-great part occured two days before New Year's, when Alex was going through the books in his maternal grandparents' small library and came across the accounts that they had written on their experiences in the Holocaust. Actually, they had each written two accounts, one in the _Roma_ language with some French (they had grown up in France) and German for things that didn't really fit in the former not long after they had moved to Britain, and the other in English, written a few years later, when their command of English was better.

Alex knew his parents, aunts, and uncles had read the accounts, and suspected that his older cousins must have also done so. Therefore, he started reading the English account that Granddad Vladek had written, while Beth began reading Granny Ilsa's account. It didn't take very long for them to be absolutely sickened. While they knew the concentration camps were completely awful places and that their grandparents were quite lucky to survive the Holocaust, they hadn't known all the details about it. Alex and Beth knew quite well that they likely wouldn't survive if they were sent to a camp, in no small part due to the fact that children were normally sent to the gas chambers. The only ways they'd escape that was if Dr. Mengele took them aside, since they were supposedly twins, and then they would be lucky if they survived his experiments, or they lied about their age and used Glamour Charms or something to make themselves appear older.

Their paternal grandparents also turned out to have written accounts about their experiences, but Alex was too upset after reading Granddad Vladek's account to read theirs or Granny Ilsa's. Beth did read Grandmum Lise's account, but after that, couldn't bring herself to read about her grandfathers' experiences. The two had to have a talk with their grandparents after, who did their best to comfort them.

"But that means Anne Frank also went through similiar stuff!" exclaimed Beth, who had read _The Diary of Anne Frank_ last year and knew that Anne Frank and the other people she was in hiding with had been found out by the Germans after two years in hiding and ended up dying in the concentration camps a couple of months before liberation due to illness. Anne's father, Otto Frank, was the only member of the group to survive. "It's no wonder she didn't survive. She wasn't as lucky as you, and didn't have any magic to help her."

Granny Ilsa sighed. "Even having magic didn't guarantee that you'd live. After all, my brother died a few days before liberation."

"And my parents didn't survive either," pointed out Grandmum Lise. "Well, technically my father did survive the camps, but he ended up dying a week later from illness. Anyway, please don't dwell overlong on this. It is in the past and can't be changed. All we can do is make ensure that such atrocities don't happen again."

"I guess," said Alex with a sigh. At least his grandparents had managed to survive, or his life would be very different. Either his biological aunt and uncle would have kept him, in which case he would have a miserable childhood, though it wouldn't be anything like what his grandparents went through, or he'd be in an orphanage. While orphanages today weren't like the ones in _Oliver Twist_, it could be like the one mentioned in the book Beth had read, where none of the kids were abused, but was still a rather dreary place. The entire wizarding world would know who he really was, and while he could still be friends with Ron, Neville, and Hermione, he wouldn't meet Ron and Neville until starting Hogwarts.

All too soon it was time to return to Hogwarts. Alex was quite eager to return, but at the same time wished he didn't have to return so that he could spend more time with his family. Of course, he did see his cousins, with the exception of David and Jonas, at school, but they were in different houses and older than him, so he didn't interact with them much except at mealtimes. Even then, his time spent with Cara and Vera was less than with Ivan, and that was only due to the fact that Ivan never sat with the Slytherins except at the beginning- and end-of-year feasts and split his time between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables. Still, it was nice to be back at school, and Alex focused his attention back to schoolwork.


	11. An Unique Mirror

Summary: Alex/Harry resumes life at Hogwarts, finds an unique mirror, and gets to be Seeker in the Gryffindor/Hufflepuff match.

The next night, after everyone else had gone to bed, Alex took out the invisibility cloak and Marauder's Map and went for a stroll around the school. He wanted to do a little exploring, which was something his biological father had done, and while he really shouldn't be wandering around after curfew, he had no intention of causing any trouble, which technically didn't break his promise to his adoptive parents.

While walking about, Alex almost ran into Filch and quickly slid into a nearby room that had a door that was ajar in order to escape bumping into the caretaker. The room appeared to be an unused classroom, judging by the dusty desks and chairs in it. However, there was one odd item, a tall mirror located in a corner, looking as it had been simply put there to keep it out of the way. He looked at the Map to make sure that there was nobody around, then cautiously approached the mirror.

It was a magnificent mirror, as high as the ceiling, with an ornate gold frame, standing on two clawed feet. There was an inscription carved around the top: _Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi._ He frowned, trying to work out what language it was. It wasn't English or the _Roma_ language, and didn't seem to be German, French, or Spanish, since he'd seen samples of them. It definitely wasn't a non-Latin based langauge like Arabic or Japanese. He wondered if it was Latin, but the only Latin he knew was the Hogwarts motto, 'carpe diem' and that many of the spells were Latin-based.

Finally, after much thought, he realized that it was just English written backwards, like mirror writing. He worked out the inscription to be "_I show not your face but your heart's desire_." That meant the mirror would show your heart's desire, or what you most wanted. Curious, he stood in front of it, wondering what his heart's desire was. All he saw was his reflection, being handed the Quidditch Cup, with the rest of the Gryffindor team, minus Cormac, surrounding him and silently cheering. Did that mean that his heart's desire was to help win the Quidditch Cup for Gryffindor?

"What kind of desire is that?" he asked out loud. "I would have expected something else." On further reflection, he realized that his life, while not exactly perfect, was still very good. He had a loving family, great friends, did well in school, and even though Malfoy was something of an enemy, he was more of an annoyance that could be ignored. If he had grown up with his biological relatives, then no doubt his life wouldn't be so wonderful, and his heart's desire would probably be something like having his real parents still alive. However, that hadn't happened, so his life was fine, and if his heart's desire wasn't something as trivial as winning the Quidditch Cup, then it probably would be nothing, that is, he wouldn't have any real desires at all.

His curiousity now satisfied, Alex stepped away from the mirror and returned to the Gryffindor common room, with no desire to do any further exploring. The next day, he told Beth and his friends about the Mirror of Erised. While they were all interested in it, and wondered what their heart's desires were, Hermione was also rather horrified with the fact that Alex had been out-of-bounds, and Beth made him promise to never wander about the castle after curfew again unless it was absolutely necessary or he had permission to do so from a staff member.

"You don't want Mum and Dad finding out you broke your promise and taking the cloak away from you while you're at Hogwarts, Alexander," reminded Beth.

"Actually, my promise was that I wouldn't cause any trouble with the cloak, _Elisabeth_," responded Alex, using his sister's full first name since she had done so with him. "Which I didn't do last night."

"Maybe not, but that argument isn't going to work with our parents," returned Beth. "So promise."

"Fine," sighed Alex. "I promise not to break curfew except when it's necessary or a staff member gives me permission."

After the next Potions class, Alex and Beth stayed behind and asked Professor Snape if they could speak with him privately later. He agreed, on the pretense of giving them detention for that evening. The two showed up at his office after dinner. "Professor Snape," said Beth. "Our grandparents told us some things about you over the holidays."

"What things?" demanded Snape, a flicker of alarm appearing on his face before quickly disappearing.

"Er, we sort of figured out that something is being hidden at Hogwarts," answered Alex. "Our cousin Ivan found out that you were injured and surmised that you must have tried to get past the three-headed dog that he and his friends found out about. That made us wonder if you were either after whatever's hidden or trying to stop the real person after it."

"When we brought it up to our family members, our maternal grandparents assured us that you were on the side of good and would never go against Dumbledore, and they swore us to secrecy the reason why they knew," continued Beth. "Well, your being Granny Ilsa's apprentice for a couple of summers isn't exactly a secret, but the other stuff they said definitely was."

Alex nodded. "So we just wanted to let you know that we know the basics of what happened after you graduated from Hogwarts, and to assure you that nobody else is going to hear about it from us. Er, you don't really mind that Granny Ilsa and Granddad Vladek told us?"

"Since it is your family that we are talking about, I do not," replied Snape. "They were there for me at a time when I needed support, and I can never repay them. no matter how many potions I brew for your grandmother's apothecary during the summer. And I would only trust members of your family and Professor Dumbledore to keep my past secret. Now, what was it you said about Ivan?"

Beth and Alex exchanged looks, because they didn't want to get their cousin and his friends in trouble. Professor Snape sighed and said, "I promise not to punish Ivan over it. Now will you answer?"

"He found out why the third-floor corridor is off limits," responded Beth. "He told us, because sometimes Alex can sometimes let curiousity get the better of him."

Snape raised a brow. "I take it Ivan found out because his friends told him," he stated. "Since I do find it rather hard to believe that he found out on his own."

Alex didn't confirm or deny this, but merely said, "Anyway, our family knows that something is hidden at Hogwarts, since Beth asked about it at dinner once, but we've promised our parents not to look any further into it and just let Professor Dumbledore deal with things."

"Good," said Snape. "Make sure you keep that promise. Since you two are supposedly having detention with me, you can spend the next couple of hours brewing a Swelling Solution."

Two days before the Gryffindor/Hufflepuff Quidditch match, Cormac McClaggen reported that Professor McGonagall had put him in detention the day of the match. He was not pleased, to say the least, when the rest of the team didn't react negatively to the news, and instead focused on how happy they were that Alex would get to play and preparing him for the match.

The match turned out to be one of the shortest that anyone could remember, for after about ten minutes, Alex spotted the Snitch, went into a dive, and caught it before the Hufflepuff Seeker realized what was going on. Gryffindor won the match, two hundred points to ten. There was a celebratory party in the common room after, where Alex was hailed as the hero of the team. McClaggen looked very grumpy when he returned from his detention and saw everybody celebrating and making much of Alex. After grabbing some food and something to drink, the second-year retreated to his dorm room, muttering things that were no doubt uncomplimentary under his breath.

Author's Note: Sorry that it has been awhile since I updated this. I have been busy with other things in my life.


	12. A Dragonet

Chapter Summary: Alex/Harry starts studying for the end-of-term exams due to Hermione's insistence, and he and his friends find out that Hagrid has acquired an illegal 'pet'.

The week after the Quidditch match, Hermione became preoccupied with the end-of-term exams. She had started drawing up study schedules and color coding all her notes. Her friends wouldn't have minded, but she kept nagging them to do the same.

"Hermione, the exams are ages away," pointed out Alex.

"Ten weeks," Hermione snapped. "That's not ages, that's like a second to Nicolas Flamel."

"But we're not six hundred years old," Ron reminded her. "Anyway, what are you studying for, you already know it's an all."

"What am I studying for? Are you crazy? You realize we need to pass these exams to get into the second year? They're very important, I should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's gotten into me…"

Unfortunately, the teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Hermione. They piled so much homework on them that the Easter holidays weren't nearly as much fun as the Christmas ones. Beth was the only one that didn't complain and joined her friend in the library to study, and with great reluctance Alex, Ron, and Neville joined them, though the latter didn't voice his complaints in front of the girls.

"I'll never remember this," Ron burst out one afternoon, throwing down his quill and looking longingly out of the library window. It was the first really fine day they'd had in months. The sky was a clear, forget-me-not blue, and there was a feeling in the air of summer coming.

Alex, who was looking up "Dittany" in _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_, didn't look up until he heard Ron say, "Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"

Hagrid shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He looked very out of place in his moleskin overcoat.

"Jus' lookin'," he said, in a shifty voice that got their interest at once.

"An' what're you lot up ter?" He looked suddenly suspicious. "Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"

"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," said Ron impressively. "And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Philosopher's St—"

"Shhhh!" Hagrid looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening. "Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?"

"Sorry, Hagrid," apologized Beth. "We're not intending to concern ourselves with anything more about it, but I was curious as to what else was guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy-"

"SHHHH!" said Hagrid again. "Listen — come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh —"

"See you later, then," said Alex.

Hagrid shuffled off.

"What was he hiding behind his back?" mused Hermione thoughtfully. "Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone?"

"I'm going to see what section he was in," said Ron, who'd had enough of working. He came back a minute later with a pile of books in his arms and slammed them down on the table.

"Dragons!" he whispered. "Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look at these: _Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland_; _From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide_. "

"Hagrid's always been interested in dragons," said Neville with a shrug.

"But why would he be looking up information about them now?" asked Beth, frowning. "Especially since his interest goes as far as actually wanting to own one."

"But it's against our laws," said Ron. "Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that."

"I didn't know that," interrupted Neville. "Well, I know that dragon breeding is outlawed, but not the year or by whom."

"That's not the point," said Beth impatiently. "The point is that Hagrid suddenly is looking up stuff about dragons."

"So what on earth is Hagrid up to?" wondered Hermione.

"Nothing good, I bet," responded Beth grimly, having a nasty suspicion as to what Hagrid was up to. "I hope I'm wrong, though."

When they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut an hour later, they were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. Hagrid called "Who is it?" before he let them in, and then shut the door quickly behind them.

It was stifling hot inside. Even though it was such a warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. Hagrid made them tea and offered them stoat sandwiches, which they refused.

"So — yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"

"Yes," said Alex. There was no point beating around the bush. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Philosopher's Stone apart from Fluffy."

Hagrid frowned at him. "O' course I can't," he said. "Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. That Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts — I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy."

"Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here," said Hermione in a warm, flattering voice.

Hagrid's beard twitched and they could tell he was smiling. "We only wondered who had done the guarding, really," Hermione went on. "We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."

Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words. The other four beamed at Hermione.

"Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that… let's see… he borrowed Fluffy from me… then some o' the teachers did enchantments… Professor Sprout — Professor Flitwick — Professor McGonagall —" he ticked them off on his fingers, "Professor Quirrell — an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."

Alex and Beth exchanged looks. None of the teachers mentioned appeared to be the sort that would go after the Stone. Well, Professor Snape had his moments, but if he really were that sort, then Aunt Sarah and Uncle Niko wouldn't have named him Ivan's godfather and their families wouldn't be on good terms with him. Alex and Beth hadn't properly met Snape before Hogwarts, but Ivan certainly had, since he spent one afternoon a week with his godfather since the age of six, and would know if something was amiss.

"Hagrid, it's boiling in here," said Neville. "Could we have a window open?"

"Can't, Neville, sorry," said Hagrid. The quintet noticed him glance at the fire. They looked at it, too.

"Hagrid — what's that?" asked Alex

But he already knew what it was. In the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge, black egg.

Beth groaned. "Oh, Hagrid, you didn't!" she exclaimed, wishing that her suspicions would stop coming true. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen anytime soon, for that was how her Sight manifested, along with being able to read people's futures in playing cards and tarot cards.

"Where did you get it, Hagrid?" said Ron, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg. "It must've cost you a fortune."

"Won it," said Hagrid. "Las' night. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest."

"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" said Hermione.

"Well, I've bin doin' some readin'," said Hagrid, pulling a large book from under his pillow. "Got this outta the library —_Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit _— it's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Keep the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on 'em, see, an' when it hatches, feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here — how ter recognize diff'rent eggs — what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them."

He looked very pleased with himself, but Hermione didn't. "Hagrid, you live in a wooden house," she said.

But Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire.

When the quintet returned for the castle, Beth said, "Something needs to be done about this. I don't want Hagrid to get in trouble, but he can't just try to hatch a dragon in his house."

"Maybe Vera would be able to help us," suggested Alex. "She's three years older than us and in Ravenclaw, after all."

Vera looked alarmed when she heard about Hagrid and the dragon egg he was attempting to hatch. "How can he do something like that? I know that he's always wanted a dragon, but I never thought he'd resort to illegal means to get one. I'll talk to Hagrid and try to get him to see reason. If that fails, then I'll write to _Bubbe_ Lise and _Zeyde_ Eli for advice on dealing with this."

"What does '_zeyde_' mean?" asked Hermione, looking confused.

"It's Yiddish for 'grandfather'," answered Vera. "Do you mind lending me your owl, Alex, if I have to write that letter to our grandparents?"

"Nope, you can use Hedwig," replied Alex.

After dinner, Vera took the quintet aside, a mildly annoyed look on her face. "I managed to convince Hagrid that the dragon would be better with its own kind, but he still wants to hatch the egg and getting to know the dragonet before sending it off. Ron, do you mind asking your brother Charlie if he can raise it on the dragon preserve he's working at? I'll write to Dad and ask if he can arrange some way to send the dragonet to Charlie."

Ron agreed to write to Charlie, and a week later got a reply back saying he would be willing to take the dragon, who had hatched in the meantime and was named Norbert. A few days later, late at night, Uncle Niko showed up at Hogwarts and smuggled Norbert out, and then friends of Charlie that were going to visit him in Romania took the dragonet away.

The quintet was very relieved to have the whole dragon business settled, and after spending some time comforting Hagrid, returned their attention back to revising for the exams.


	13. A Journey Through the Trapdoor

Chapter Summary: Alex/Harry starts having bad dreams, takes his exams, and then he and his friends ... well, read the chapter to find out.

After the incident with Hagrid and the baby dragon, Alex started having bad dreams. In the past, he had a couple of dreams involving flashes of green light, which he now had figured out must have something to do with his biological parents' murders and the attempt on his life. His current dreams. however, had a woman screaming and an evil laugh in addition to the green light that must be the Killing Curse. He couldn't figure out why he was having these dreams now, and didn't like them waking up in the middle of the night and then taking him at least an hour to fall back asleep. Also, his hidden scar kept pricking every so often, especially in Defense Against Dark Arts class, and he couldn't figure out why. The only time he felt truly relaxed from these worries was when he was brewing potions, either in Potions class or when he, Beth, and Hermione were doing some extra work under Professor Snape's supervision once a week.

Things didn't get better when Alex and his friends went on a visit with Hagrid and found out that something or someone had been attacking unicorns in the Forbidden Forest. Two had died in the past month. According to one of the centaurs that lived in the forest, it seemed that whomever or whatever was attacking unicorns were after the blood.

Right after the visit, Hermione and Beth rushed to the library and checked out some books on unicorns. They returned with the discovery that unicorn blood could be used to prolong life, even if you were close to death, but it was a cursed life, for it involved the death of something pure and innocent.

"But who'd be that desperate?" Alex wondered aloud. "If you're going to be cursed forever, death's better, isn't it?"

Beth gave him a look. "And who do we know of that would be that desperate, Alex? Especially considering what is hidden at Hogwarts right now."

Alex turned pale. "But the prophecy that Mum made said Voldemort would return to power thirteen years after his defeat, not ten! And Aunt Maria would have had a vision of it happening."

"That doesn't mean Voldemort can't make an attempt to return to power and fail," pointed out Beth patiently. "And you know Aunt Maria can't control her visions."

"What prophecy are you talking about?" asked Ron. "You two never mentioned it before."

"Mum made a prophecy about thirteen years ago that said that Voldemort would one day be defeated, but return to power thirteen years after that. There will be dark times, but eventually the one that defeated him the first time will vanquish him for good. Since the first part came true, our family knows the rest will come true as well, and as Alex is the one that defeated him the first time, that means he'll have to do it again."

"But Alex, how can you face You-Know-Who again and vanquish him for good?" asked Hermione, rather horrorstruck.

"Well, I don't really want to face Voldemort, but it's not like I'll face him unprepared, Hermione," answered Alex. "And if he went after me when I was just a baby, then do you think he'll stop when I'm a teenager? Voldemort might have even guessed that I had the power to defeat him, and that's why he targeted me in the first place."

Hermione blinked. "That is a good point, Alex. If You-Know-Who is after you, then you really have no choice but to defend yourself and defeat him."

"We'll help you, of course," said Neville. "You might have to be the one to do the actual defeating, but we'll help you get there, Alex."

"NO!" shouted Alex. "It's bad enough that my biological parents died because of me! I'm not getting my best friends killed too!"

"Alexander Jacob Romanov!" snapped Beth, looking angry. "It's Voldemort's fault that Lily and James Potter are dead, not yours! Even if he hadn't been after you, there's no guarantee that they wouldn't have died, since they were fully involved in fighting him and his Death Eaters. And it's our choice if we want to help you fight him. We know what can happen and accept it."

"Beth's right," said Ron. "And you've read enough books to know that while the hero is the one to defeat the bad guy, his friends helped him get there and fought any followers the bad guy had, Alex. So just accept the fact that we're helping you. How long do you think you'd last without our help, anyway?"

Hermione snorted. "Not very long. Let's see, Ron's brilliant at strategy, Neville is the best at Herbology and almost as good in Defense Against Dark Arts, Beth is better than you in Potions and Transfiguration, and I can pick up any spell that's not related to Defense faster than you."

"Fine," said Alex, giving up. His friends and sister had a point, and there was no use in wasting breath in a futile attempt to talk them out of it.

"Well, now we're pretty much certain that You-Know-Who is after the Stone," said Hermione. "But with it at Hogwarts under Dumbledore's protection, it should be safe."

The others agreed, so they went back to studying for the exams, which also took their mind off Voldemort for the time being.

Two weeks later, the exams arrived and Alex did his best to concentrate on them despite the pain in his hidden scar, the dreams he had of his biological parents' deaths, and the vague worry that Voldemort would find some way to get past Dumbledore and try to go after the Stone. The only exam he was sure of doing well in was Potions, since he had no difficulty focusing long enough to brew a Forgetfulness Potion. The irony of having to remember how to a brew a potion that induced forgetfulness was not lost on him, either. He was also fairly sure of at least passing Herbology, since Neville had drilled him long enough in that.

Their very last exam was History of Magic. One hour of answering questions about batty old wizards who'd invented self stirring cauldrons and they'd be free, free for a whole wonderful week until their exam results came out. When the ghost of Professor Binns told them to put down their quills and roll up their parchment, Alex couldn't help cheering with the rest.

"That was far easier than I thought it would be," said Hermione as they joined the crowds flocking out onto the sunny grounds."I needn't have learned about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager."

Hermione always liked to go through their exam papers afterward, but Ron said this made him feel ill, so they wandered down to the lake and flopped under a tree. The Weasley twins and Lee Jordan were tickling the tentacles of a giant squid, which was basking in the warm shallows. "No more studying," Ron sighed happily, stretching out on the grass. "You could look more cheerful, Alex, we've got a week before we find out how badly we've done, there's no need to worry yet."

Alex was rubbing his forehead. "I wish I knew what this means!" he burst out angrily. "My scar keeps hurting — it's happened before, but never as often as this."

"Go to Madam Pomfrey," Hermione suggested.

"I'm not ill," said Alex. "I think it's a warning… it means danger's coming…"

Ron couldn't get worked up, it was too hot.

"Alex, relax, Hermione's right, the Stone's safe as long as Dumbledore's around. We have no proof as to who would try to get past Fluffy, and Hagrid is the only one that knows how. And Neville will play Quidditch for England, no offense, Neville, before Hagrid lets Dumbledore down."

"None taken," responded Neville, who knew that while he wasn't bad at Quidditch, neither was he good enough to one day get signed on to a professional team.

Alex nodded, but he couldn't shake off a lurking feeling that there was something he'd forgotten to do, something important. When he tried to explain this, Hermione said, "That's just the exams. I woke up last night and was halfway through my Transfiguration notes before I remembered we'd done that one."

Alex was quite sure the unsettled feeling didn't have anything to do with work, though. He rubbed his forehead again and looked at Beth. "There has to be something that we missed."

"But what?" Beth frowned in thought, then gasped. "I just realized something! We've got to go and see Hagrid, now."

"But why?" asked Hermione.

"Don't you think it's a bit odd," said Beth, jumping to her feet, "that what Hagrid wants more than anything else is a dragon, and a stranger turns up who just happens to have an egg in his pocket?How many people wander around with dragon eggs if it's against wizard law? Lucky they found Hagrid, don't you think? Why didn't we see it before?"

Alex and Hermione immediately realized what she meant, Ron still looked confused, and Neville caught on a few second later and quickly explained to Ron as the five of them hurried across the grounds to Hagrid's house.

Hagrid was sitting in an armchair outside his house; his trousers and sleeves were rolled up, and he was shelling peas into a large bowl.

"Hullo," he said, smiling. "Finished yer exams? Got time fer a drink?"

"No, we're in a hurry," replied Alex. "Hagrid, I've got to ask you something. You know that night you won Norbert? What did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?"

"Dunno," said Hagrid casually, "he wouldn' take his cloak off."

He saw the five of them look stunned and raised his eyebrows. "It's not that unusual, yeh get a lot o' funny folk in the Hog's Head — that's one of the pubs down in the village. Mighta bin a dragon dealer, mightn' he? I never saw his face, he kept his hood up."

Alex sank down next to the bowl of peas. "What did you talk to him about, Hagrid? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?"

"Mighta come up," said Hagrid, frowning as he tried to remember. "Yeah… he asked what I did, an' I told him I was gamekeeper here… He asked a bit about the sorta creatures I took after… so I told him… an' I said what I'd always really wanted was a dragon… an' then… I can' remember too well, 'cause he kept buyin' me drinks… Let's see… yeah, then he said he had the dragon egg an' we could play cards fer it if I wanted… but he had ter be sure I could handle it, he didn' want it ter go ter any old home… So I told him, after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy…"

"And did he — did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Beth asked, trying to keep her voice calm.

"Well — yeah — how many three-headed dogs d'yeh meet, even around Hogwarts? So I told him, Fluffy's a piece o' cake if yeh know how to calm him down, jus' play him a bit o' music an' he'll go straight off ter sleep —" Hagrid suddenly looked horrified. "I shouldn'ta told yeh that!" he blurted out. "Forget I said it! Hey — where're yeh goin'?"

The five of them didn't speak to each other at all until they came to a halt in the entrance hall, which seemed very cold and gloomy after the grounds.

"We've got to go to Dumbledore," said Alex. "Hagrid told that stranger how to get past Fluffy, and it was probably Voldemort under that cloak — it must've been easy, once he'd got Hagrid drunk. I just hope Dumbledore believes us. Where's Dumbledore's office?"

They looked around, as if hoping to see a sign pointing them in the right direction. They had never been told where Dumbledore lived, nor did they know anyone who had been sent to see him.

"I guess we'll need the Marauder's —" Alex began, but a voice suddenly rang across the hall.

"What are you five doing inside?"

It was Professor McGonagall, carrying a large pile of books.

"We want to see Professor Dumbledore," said Hermione, rather bravely, the others thought.

"See Professor Dumbledore?" Professor McGonagall repeated, as though this was a very fishy thing to want to do. "Why?"

Alex swallowed — now what?

"It's sort of secret," he said, but he wished at once he hadn't, because Professor McGonagall's nostrils flared.

"Professor Dumbledore left ten minutes ago," she said coldly. "He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and flew off for London at once."

"He's gone?" demanded Alex frantically. "Now?"

"Professor Dumbledore is a very great wizard, Mr. Romanov, he has many demands on his time – "

"But this is important."

"Something you have to say is more important than the Ministry of Magic, Romanov?"

"Look," said Alex, throwing caution to the winds, "Professor — it's about the Philosopher's Stone —"

Whatever Professor McGonagall had expected, it wasn't that. The books she was carrying tumbled out of her arms, but she didn't pick them up..

"How do you know —?" she spluttered.

"Professor, I think — I know — that someone's going to try and steal the Stone. I've got to talk to Professor Dumbledore."

She eyed him with a mixture of shock and suspicion. "Professor Dumbledore will be back tomorrow," she said finally. "I don't know how you found out about the Stone, but rest assured, no one can possibly steal it, it's too well protected."

"But Professor —"

"Mr. Romanov, I know what I'm talking about," she said shortly. She bent down and gathered up the fallen books. "I suggest you all go back outside and enjoy the sunshine."

But they didn't. "It's tonight," said Alex, once he was sure Professor McGonagall was out of earshot. "Voldemort's going through the trapdoor tonight. He's found out everything he needs, and now he's got Dumbledore out of the way. He sent that note, I bet the Ministry of Magic will get a real shock when Dumbledore turns up."

"I'm getting our cousins," said Beth. "They know about Stone, and can help us. And you can find Professor Snape and tell him. He'll take us seriously, I'm sure."

However, it turned out that Professor Snape wasn't at Hogwarts either, for he had gone to deliver a supply of potions to their grandmother, and had accepted an invitation to stay for supper. Vera, Ivan, and Cara were quite alarmed when they heard everything that the quintet had deduced.

"But Aunt Ana's prophecy said that Voldemort won't return to power until three years from now!" protested Cara.

"That doesn't mean that he won't try," said Vera. "He needs to be stopped. Even if we have to be the ones to do it."

"And how are five first-years, a second-year, a third-year, and a fourth-year supposed to do that?" demanded Ivan. "We might know how to get past Fluffy, but what about the other protections that were set up? We can't just go rushing off and do something rash. I'm sending a letter to the adults in our family telling them what's going on and getting their advice."

Cara and Vera looked satisfied with that, but Alex wasn't. The quintet went off to the Room of Requirement. "By the time our family writes back with advice, it could be too late!" exclaimed Alex.

"Well, what do you propose we do?" snapped Beth. "Stop Voldemort ourselves, when we're only first-years?"

"We've got the Marauder's Map," interrupted Hermione. "We can use that to see if and when you-Know-Who tries to go after the Stone."

"And then what?" inquired Neville, looking nervous. "How do we stop him?"

Alex shrugged. "Voldemort is still rather weak at the moment, so stopping him won't be as difficult as it would be back when he was in power."

"We'll still need to get past the protections," pointed out Ron. Alex went to get the Marauder's Map and invisibility cloak, and at the last second pocketed the flute that Hagrid had given him for Christmas since it would help put Fluffy to sleep. When he returned to the Room, he joined Beth and their friends in preparing for the possible ordeal ahead.

Hours later, Neville took his turn to look at the Marauder's Map. He gasped and exclaimed, "Professor Quirrell is trying to go after the Stone! And there's another name with him! It says Tom Riddle!"

"Quirrell's after the Stone?" asked Ron, incredulous. "So that stutter and everything was an act? And who's Tom Riddle?"

Beth examined the Map. "The two names are on top of each other, not next to each other. Somehow they're the same... oh no, what if Voldemort's possessing Quirrell somehow?"

"But then why is the name Tom Riddle?" asked Alex.

"Do you really think Voldemort is his real name?" answered Beth. "I mean, the one that he was born with?"

"No," responded Alex after a moment of thought. "He probably chose that name. Well, let's go try and stop Quirrell and this Tom Riddle, who may be Voldemort."

Beth and Alex got under the Cloak, while Hermione, Neville, and Ron did the Disillusionment Charm on themselves, and they set off for the third-floor corridor. When they got there, they found that Quirrell and Riddle had already gotten past Fluffy, for there was a harp lying nearby. Beth started playing the flute, while Alex opened the trapdoor and the other three removed the Disillusionment Charms.

"I'm going down," said Alex. "If anything happens to me, don't follow. Go to the Owlery and send a letter to Dumbledore." He took a deep breath, lowered himself through the hole until he was hanging on by his fingertips, and then let go.

Cold, damp air rushed past him as he fell down, down, down and — FLUMP. With a funny, muffled sort of thump he landed on something soft. He sat up and felt around, his eyes not used to the gloom. It felt as though he was sitting on some sort of plant.

"It's okay!" he called up to the light the size of a postage stamp, which was the open trapdoor, "it's a soft landing, you can jump!"

Ron followed right away. He landed, sprawled next to Alex. "What's this stuff?" were his first words.

"Dunno, some sort of plant thing. I suppose it's here to break the fall. Come on, you guys!"

Beth handed the flute to Hermione, who started playing, and jumped down. Neville followed seconds later, and then Hermione.

"We must be miles under the school," Beth said.

"Lucky this plant thing's here, really," said Ron.

"Lucky!" shrieked Hermione. "Look at you guys!" She and Neville leapt up and struggled toward a damp wall. They had to struggle because the moment they had landed, the plant had started to twist snakelike tendrils around thier ankles. As for Alex, Beth, and Ron, their legs had already been bound tightly in long creepers without their noticing.

Hermione and Neville had managed to free themselves before the plant got a firm grip on them. Now they watched in horror as the two boys fought to pull the plant off them, but the more they strained against it, the tighter and faster the plant wound around them. Beth, however, had the sense to stay still once she realized the uselessness of struggling.

"Stop moving!" Neville ordered them. "It's a Devil's Snare that's got you guys!"

"Oh, I'm so glad we know what it's called, that's a great help," snarled Ron, leaning back, trying to stop the plant from curling around his neck.

"Will you shut up, I'm trying to remember how to kill it!" snapped Neville. "Let's see, it likes the dark and damp, so we need to light a fire. Hermione, you're better at that than me, so you do it."

"Yes — of course — but there's no wood!" Hermione cried, wringing her hands.

"HAVE YOU GONE MAD?" Ron bellowed. "ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?"

"Oh, right!" said Hermione, and she whipped out her wand, waved it, muttered something, and sent a jet of bluebell flames at the plant. In a matter of seconds, Alex, Ron, and Beth felt it loosening its grip as it cringed away from the light and warmth. Wriggling and flailing, it unraveled itself from their bodies, and they were able to pull free.

"Okay, I guess I do need you guys," admitted Alex once they were free. "Your Herbology knowledge came in handy, Nev, and you knew how to make the fire, Hermione."

"Glad you realized that," said Beth. "Now let's continue."

The next chamber turned out to contain flying, winged keys, one of which was needed to open the door at the opposite end. There were three broomsticks available for use. Neville and Hermione, the poorest flyers, volunteered to sit this one out. The other three each seized a broom and took off, looking for the correct key, which would be a big, old-fashioned one that was probably silver, like the handle of the door. After a few minutes, Alex spotted a large silver key that had a bent wing, as if it had already been caught and stuffed roughly into the keyhole.

Beth, Ron, and Alex, working together, managed to get the key into a position so that the latter could catch it.

They landed quickly, and Alex ran to the door, the key struggling in his hand. He rammed it into the lock and turned – it worked. The moment the lock had clicked open, the key took flight again, looking very battered now that it had been caught twice.

"Ready?" he asked the other four, his hand on the door handle. They nodded. He pulled the door open.

The next chamber was so dark they couldn't see anything at all. But as they stepped into it, light suddenly flooded the room to reveal an astonishing sight.

They were standing on the edge of a huge chessboard, behind the black chessmen, which were all taller than they were and carved from what looked like black stone. Facing them, way across the chamber, were the white pieces. The five shivered slightly – the towering white chessmen had no faces.

"Now what do we do?" Alex whispered.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" said Ron. "We've got to play our way across the room."

Behind the white pieces they could see another door.

"How?" asked Hermione nervously.

"I think," replied Ron, "we're going to have to be chessmen."

He walked up to a black knight and put his hand out to touch the knight's horse. At once, the stone sprang to life. The horse pawed the ground and the knight turned his helmeted head to look down at Ron.

"Do we — er — have to join you to get across?" The black knight nodded. Ron turned to the other four.

"This needs thinking about…" he said. "I suppose we've got to take the place of five of the black pieces…"

The others stayed quiet, watching Ron think. Finally he said, "Now, don't be offended or anything, but none of you four are that good at chess —"

"We're not offended," interrupted Alex quickly. "Just tell us what to do."

Neville took the place of a bishop, Hermione a rook/castle, Beth and Alex the queen and king, and Ron was a knight. White moved first, with a pawn, and then Ron began directing the black pieces. Alex had complete confidence in Ron's chess and strategy abilities, but he still couldn't help worrying over what would happen if they somehow lost.

Their first real shock came when their other knight was taken. The white queen smashed him to the floor and dragged him off the board, where he lay quite still, facedown.

"Had to let that happen," said Ron, looking shaken. "Leaves you free to take that bishop, Hermione, go on."

Every time one of their men was lost, the white pieces showed no mercy. Soon there was a huddle of limp black players slumped along the wall. Twice, Ron only just noticed in time that Neville and Hermione were in danger. He himself darted around the board, taking almost as many white pieces as they had lost black ones.

"We're nearly there," he muttered suddenly. "Let me think — let me think…"

The white queen turned her blank face toward him.

"Yes…" said Ron softly, "It's the only way… I've got to be taken."

"NO!" the others shouted.

"That's chess!" snapped Ron. "You've got to make some sacrifices! I make my move and she'll take me — that leaves you free to checkmate the king, Neville!"

"But —" protested Neville.

"Do you want to stop Quirrell or not?"

"Ron —" began Alex.

"Look, if you don't hurry up, he'll already have the Stone!"

There was no alternative. "Ready?" Ron called, his face pale but determined. "Here I go — now, don't hang around once you've won."

He stepped forward, and the white queen pounced. She struck Ron hard across the head with her stone arm, and he crashed to the floor —

Hermione screamed but stayed on her square — the white queen dragged Ron to one side. He looked as if he'd been knocked out.

Shaking, Neville moved three spaces to the left.

The white king took off his crown and threw it at Neville's feet. They had won. The chessmen parted and bowed, leaving the door ahead clear. At that moment, Vera, Cara, and Ivan appeared, rather out of breath. Cara looked furious.

"What were you thinking?" she demanded. "I'm about to go to bed when I get a vision of you guys getting past that three-headed dog! I immediately contacted Vera and Ivan."

"We got past Fluffy, Vera figured out the Devil's Snare, and then we got the key," said Ivan. "But why are you guys doing this when we told you earlier -"

Alex took out the Marauder's Map and thrust it under Ivan's face in reply. "Quirrell's after the Stone? And who's this Tom Riddle?"

Beth explained what she had guessed. Ivan and Cara looked sick. Vera made a face, but then devoted her attention to checking up on Ron. "He's just knocked out," she said a minute later. "He should be fine when he come to, other than having a horrible headache. Ivan and Cara, you two stay with Ron. I'll go on ahead with the others."

The four first-years and Vera continued on. In the next room, flat on the floor in front of them, a troll even larger than the one the Gryffindor quintet had tackled, out cold with a bloody lump on its head.

"I'm glad we didn't have to fight that one," Alex whispered as they stepped carefully over one of its massive legs. "Come on, I can't breathe."

He pulled open the next door, the five of them hardly daring to look at what came next - but there was nothing very frightening in here, just a table with seven differently shaped bottles standing on it in a line.

"Professor Snape's," said Alex. "What do we have to do?"

They stepped over the threshold, and immediately a fire sprang up behind them in the doorway. It wasn't ordinary fire either; it was purple. At the same instant, black flames shot up in the doorway leading onward. They were trapped.

"Look!" Hermione seized a roll of paper lying next to the bottles. The others looked over her shoulder to read it:

_Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,_

_Two of us will help you, which ever you would find,_

_One among us seven will let you move ahead,_

_Another will transport the drinker back instead,_

_Two among our number hold only nettle wine,_

_Three of us are killers, waiting bidden in line._

_Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,_

_To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:_

_First, however slyly the poison tries to hide_

_You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;_

_Second, different are those who stand at either end,_

_But if you would move onward, neither is your friend;_

_Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,_

_Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;_

_Fourth, the second left and the second on the right_

_Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight._

Alex managed to work out that two bottles were poison, three were nettle wine, one let you move forward, and one let you move back, but knew that he would not be able to work out which bottle was which without taking a very long time at it. Fortunately, he had Beth, Hermione, and Vera, who were quite good at logic puzzles, and they were able to solve it in about five minutes. Unfortunately, the bottle that got you forward was the smallest one, and there was only enough in it for one person to go forward.

Vera sighed. "I take it you'll be going on alone then, Alex. You're the one that's fated to defeat him, so it makes sense for you to be the one to stop him now. I don't like it, though." She pulled him in a tight hug. "Please take care, cousin, and good luck."

"But he can't go alone!" protested Beth. "I at least need to come along! Alex and I have never been separated in anything important ever since he became my twin!"

"There's not enough potion for the both of us," said Alex. "And how do you think I'd feel if something happened to you? I'm fated to defeat Voldemort for good, so my chances of surviving this are really good, but we don't know about yours. Beth, you're my sister and the one person I love most in this world, after our parents. I don't want you being a target."

Beth wiped away the tears that had welled up in her eyes. "All right, Alex, but be careful." She threw her arms about him, kissed him on the cheek, and then fell back in Vera's arms, still wiping away tears. Hermione and Neville hugged Alex, wished him good luck and told him to be careful, and then they along with Beth and Vera drank the potion that would take them back. The four of them, at the same time, made a _Romany_ symbol of good luck and then turned and walked straight through the purple fire.

Alex took a deep breath and picked up the smallest bottle. He turned to face the black flames. "Here I come," he said, and he drained the little bottle in one gulp.

It was as though ice was flooding his body. He put the bottle down and walked forward; he braced himself, saw the black flames licking his body, but couldn't feel them — for a moment he could see nothing but dark fire — then he was on the other side, in the last chamber. He wasn't at all surprised to find Quirrell there.


	14. A Man with Two Faces

Chapter summary: Alex/Harry faces Quirrell and Voldemort over the Philosopher's Stone

"You!" snapped Alex in anger, as Quirrell turned around in surprise. "Since I don't see anyone else in the room, I'm going to assume that my sister was right and that this Tom Riddle is possessing you. That would explain why you're wearing that ridiculous-looking turban. And I suppose she's also right in saying that Riddle and moldy Voldy are one and the same."

"How dare you insult the Dark Lord!" shouted Quirrell in anger. "And my turban is not ridiculous looking!"

"Yes it is. No Roma would ever wear something like that unless they were blind or something like that. We have better taste than that. Anyway, is Beth right about you being possessed?"

"Yes," spat Quirrell. "Though how she guessed that is beyond me. Too smart for her own good, I bet."

Alex hid any fear he felt upon hearing Beth's suspicions confirmed and said bravely, "She's much smarter than you, Quirrell. She'd never let the spirit of a prejudiced idiot who got defeated by a baby possess her. By the way, why are you doing all the speaking? Can't old Moldy-warts talk for himself?"

Quirrell was furious and opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, a high voice spoke. "Let me speak to the insolent boy myself... face to face."

"Master, you are not strong enough!" protested Quirrell

"I have strength enough… for this…"

Alex felt as if Devil's Snare was rooting him to the spot. He couldn't move a muscle as he stood there and wondered if his taunting had been a mistake. But was it his fault that he seemed to have inherited his biological mother's cheekiness, according to Remus? He watched as Quirrell reached up and began to unwrap his turban. It fell away. Quirrell's head looked strangely small without it. Then he turned slowly on the spot.

Alex would have screamed, but he couldn't make a sound. Where there should have been a back to Quirrell's head, there was a face, the most terrible face he had ever seen. It was chalk white with glaring red eyes and slits for nostrils, like a snake.

"Alexander Romanov…" it whispered.

Alex tried to take a step backward but his legs wouldn't move.

"See what I have become?" the face said. "Mere shadow and vapor… I have form only when I can share another's body… but there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds…Unicorn blood has strengthened me, these past weeks… faithful Quirrell drinking it for me in the forest… and once I have the Elixir of Life, I will be able to create a body of my own… Now, won't you join me and help me get the Stone?"

"Never!" snapped Alex, a flood of courage spreading through his body. "I would never help someone who's the magical equivalent of Adolf Hitler!"

"Adolf Hitler?" asked Voldemort in surprise. "Oh, you mean that Muggle that was responsible for a war and the millions of deaths of other Muggles."

"Some of them weren't Muggles!" retorted Alex. "My grandparents, who are magical, survived, but their parents and siblings weren't so lucky! There were other Gypsies that were magical that died too, and I'm pretty sure some of the Jewish people that died were witches and wizards as well. You're just as bad as Hitler, wanting to get rid of Muggles and Muggleborns. You know, Hitler wanted the Aryan race, which pretty much meant those that were blond-haired and blue-eyed, in power, but he didn't fit that image at all, since he had dark hair. And there's the rumors that he might have been part-Jewish, the very race of people he wanted to destroy. Maybe you could be like him. You're going around preaching pureblood supremency, when you could be a hlafblood!"

There was silence for a full minute before Voldemort broke it. "Very clever of you. Yes, I am a halfblood. My mother was a witch descended from Salazar Slytherin, while my father was a filthy Muggle that abandoned her when he discovered that she was witch. But that is immaterial at the moment. Do you wish to help me or not? I could use someone like you. And your sister as well. If the two of you joined me, I would not harm your family in any way, so long as they promised to not stand against me."

Alex flinched. He certainly didn't want any of his family to be targets of Voldemort, but on the other hand, they would never become neutral, much less side with Voldemort. They would fight back, regardless of what happened. Even if that wasn't the case, Alex would never bring himself to side with someone that was, as he said, the magical equivalent of Hitler and had been responsible for the deaths of his biological parents and numerous others, including Muggles.

"I'd rather die than join you!" Alex spat.

"That can be arranged," snapped Voldemort. "SEIZE HIM!"

Alex sprang toward the flame door, butQuirrell's hand close on his wrist. At once, a needle-sharp pain seared across Alex's scar; his head felt as though it was about to split in two; he yelled, struggling with all his might, and to his surprise, Quirrell let go of him.

The pain in his head lessened — he looked around wildly to see where Quirrell had gone, and saw him hunched in pain, looking at his fingers — they were blistering before his eyes.

"Seize him! SEIZE HIM!" shrieked Voldemort again, and Quirrell lunged, knocking Alex clean off his feet landing on top of him, both hands around Alex's neck — his scar was almost blinding him with pain, yet he could see Quirrell howling in agony.

"Master, I cannot hold him — my hands — my hands!"

And Quirrell, though pinning Alex to the ground with his knees, let go of his neck and stared, bewildered, at his own palms — Alex could see they looked burned, raw, red, and shiny.

"Then kill him, fool, and be done!" screeched Voldemort.

Quirrell raised his hand to perform a deadly curse, but Alex, by instinct, reached up and grabbed Quirrell's face —

"AAAARGH!"

Quirrell rolled off him, his face blistering, too, and then Alexknew: Quirrell couldn't touch his bare skin, not without suffering terrible pain — his only chance was to keep hold of Quirrell, keep him in enough pain to stop him from doing a curse.

Alex jumped to his feet, caught Quirrell by the arm, and hung on as tight as he could. Quirrell screamed and tried to throw Alex off — the pain in his head was building — he couldn't see — he could only hear Quirrell's terrible shrieks and Voldemort's yells of, "KILL HIM! KILL HIM!" and other voices, maybe in his own head, crying, "Alex! Alex!"

He felt Quirrell's arm wrenched from his grasp, knew all was lost, and fell into blackness, down… down… down…

When he came to, he found his mother and GrandmumLise bending over him, concerned looks on their faces. "You're awake!" exclaimed Ana, looking hugely relieved. "Alexander Jacob Romanov, don't you ever scare me like that again! What possessed you, to go haring after Quirrell and Voldemort with Beth and your friends? I nearly had a heart attack when Maria woke us all up with her vision. The whole family came here at once, but when we got here, it was too late to do prevent things. Thank Merlin Professor Dumbledore showed up about the same time we did."

"Professor McGonagall didn't believe us and Professors Snape and Dumbledore, who probably would have, weren't at Hogwarts at the time!" protested Alex.

"But you could have died, no matter what my prophecy said! Just because the first part came true is no guarantee that the rest will! You know perfectly well that the future depends on the actions of those in the present, Alex!"

"You could have died," said Grandmum Lise soberly. "In fact, you very nearly did. The effort involved in fighting of Quirrell nearly killed you. Your father and Professor Dumbledore arrived just in time to pull him off you. At that point, the spirit of Voldemort fled, and Quirrell died. You were brought up here to the Hospital Wing, and I imagine Madam Pomfrey is not at all happy with me at the moment. I informed her in no uncertain terms that I was going to take care of my grandson, regardless of how good a Mediwitch she was, and sent her out of the room."

"Where's the rest of the family?"

"Your aunts and uncles had to go to work," responded Ana. "You were unconcious for three days, Alex. They came back after work, however. Granny Ilsa left the apothecary in Remus's hands, who has also been here every evening to check up on you. She and your dad stepped just before you woke to get some food for us. Your grandfathers are with your cousins, and Beth just went to the bathroom. Ah, there she is now."

"Alex, you're awake!" exclaimed Beth, running over to his bedside. "Don't ever do something like that again without me! If I lost you, I don't think I could ever live without you!"

"Don't!" cried Alex, looking alarmed. "You're not going to break if something happened to me!"

"But you said yourself that you couldn't stand it if something happened to me! That's why you wouldn't let me go with you to face Voldemort. That, and there wasn't enough potion for two."

"All right, I get your point, Beth. I won't force you to leave me again."

"Good. Now tell me everything that happened before Dad and Professor Dumbledore got there."

Alex did so. Grandmum Lise's mouth thinned and her eyes flashed when she heard about the offer Voldemort made. "As if any of us would join someone that is no better than Hitler. I'm proud that you stood up to Voldemort, Alex, but insulting and goading him might not have been wise."

When the story was concluded, Ana said quietly, "You were very brave, Alex. I am very proud of you, but in the future, try to avoid situations like this until after Voldemort returns to power and you have to defeat him for good, all right? The same goes for you, Beth. I am very proud of your bravery and intelligence, but try to do the same as your brother."

"Yes, Mum," said Alex and Beth at the same time.

At this point, Stephen and Granny Ilsa came in, each bearing a tray of food and drink. They were very relieved and overjoyed to see that Alex was awake. Ana told them Alex's story, while Beth slipped out to tell their friends, cousins, and grandfathers the story and that Alex was awake.

By the time of the leaving feast, Alex had fully recovered and could leave the Hospital Wing. His relatives, minus his sister and their cousins attending Hogwarts, returned to their homes. Gryffindor had lost their final Quidditch match, against Ravenclaw, and had placed third in the running for the House Cup.

At the beginning of the feast, when the House Cup was to be awarded, Dumbledore made a surprising announcement. He awarded fifty points each to Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff due to the actions of Ivan, Vera, and Cara, and then to Gryffindor, awarded Neville, Hermione, Ron, and Beth forty points each and Alex fifty points. The end result was that Gryffindor placed first and won the House Cup, beating Slytherin for the first time in six years. Everyone, except for the Slytherins, celebrated Gryffindor winning.

The next day, the exam results were passed out. To his surprise, Alex found that he had actually done very well, and had the second-highest mark in Potions. Beth and Hermione had tied for the top students in their year, with the former doing slightly better in Potions while the latter did slightly better in Charms. Ron had done pretty well and Neville had decent marks, with Herbology (the one subject that he had done better than his friends in, which meant he had the highest mark of all the first years in it) his best. They had hoped that Goyle, who was almost as stupid as he was mean, might be thrown out, but he had passed, too. It was a shame, but as Ron said, you couldn't have everything in life.

And suddenly, their wardrobes were empty, their trunks were packed, Neville's toad was found lurking in a corner of the toilets; notes were handed out to all students, warning them not to use magic over the holidays ("I always hope they'll forget to give us these," said Fred Weasley sadly); Hagrid was there to take them down to the fleet of boats that sailed across the lake; they were boarding the Hogwarts Express; talking and laughing as the countryside became greener and tidier; eating Bettie Bott's Every Flavour Beans as they sped past Muggle towns; pulling off their wizard robes and putting on jackets and coats; pulling into platform nine and three-quarters at King's Cross Station.

It took quite a while for them all to get off the platform. A wizened old guard was up by the ticket barrier, letting them go through the gate in twos and threes so they didn't attract attention by all bursting out of a solid wall at once and alarming the Muggles. Beth invited Hermione over to spend part of the summer, and the Grangers gave permission. After saying good-bye and promising to keep in touch, the quintet went home with their respective families.


	15. A Shocking Discovery

Chapter Summary: Alex/Harry starts his summer holidays, and discovers something really shocking.

Alex sighed as he worked on the Transfiguration essay that Professor McGonagall had assigned as part of his summer homework. He wished that Hogwarts didn't assign any homework for the holidays, but there was nothing he could do about it. Even if he didn't have homework to do, his parents would still give him lessons, though theirs consisted mostly of learning wandless magic and some other things that was primarily used by the Roma. Still, he didn't like being forced to spend two hours each day, except for weekends, on his homework, until it was completed.

Beth looked up from the History of Magic essay she was writing. "Alex, there's no point in sighing over your homework. You still have to do it, and there's not much you could be doing in its place."  
Alex knew his sister was right. His parents were proud of the two of them going to stop Voldemort from getting the Philosopher's Stone, and as a reward, had told them that they could have whatever dessert they wanted for a week. However, what they had done had also been dangerous and had scared their parents half to death, so they were also being punished. Beth and Alex had literally been grounded for two weeks, and so couldn't go flying. They also had to wash the dishes after breakfast and lunch and had not been allowed to spend any time with their friends for the first five days of the holidays. Fortunately, it was the fifth day, so he'd be able to see his friends tomorrow, except for Neville, as his grandmother had grounded him for the entire week, though she was proud of the fact that he'd gone with his friends to stop Voldemort.

When the two hours were up, he had finished his essay and Remus looked it over. "It's good, Alex," he said a few minutes later. "You can put your books away and go do something else."  
Alex did as told, reflecting that it was a good thing that his parents hadn't also forbidden him from reading for pleasure as punishment, or he'd go crazy. He had no desire to spend more time on his homework, even though that would mean it would all be done within a week. While he had a journal, he rarely wrote in it, and anyway, what was the point of writing when there was little to write about? As for brewing potions, summertime was rather busy for the apothecary, so neither his mother nor Granny Ilsa could spare much time in supervising him, As for Remus, he was not qualified to supervise, as he was rather awful when it came to the practical part of Potions.

Alex went up to the tree house in the back yard, which thanks to magic was bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. There was a table with seven chairs around it (originally there was six, but now that Hermione was his and Beth's friend, a chair had been added for her), a sofa, a small bookcase, and two cabinets. He settled on the sofa and began reading _The Hobbit_, which his cousin Vera had lent him.

The next day, Alex and Beth went over to visit Ron and Ginny. Luna dropped by, a dreamy smile on her face as she greeted her friends and asked them if they thought that perhaps Wrackspurts had muddled Quirrell's thoughts so that he was willing to let You-Know-Who possess him.

Ron hastily turned a laugh into a cough to avoid hurting Luna's feelings. Alex and Beth exchanged a look, and Ginny said after a moment's pause, "Well, that explanation is as good as any, Luna."

"But how did he get into Hogwarts?" asked David, who was also visiting. "I thought there were supposed to all sorts of spells and wards to protect the school."

Alex glanced over at his cousin. "I guess whatever wards that are on Hogwarts doesn't apply to the teachers, and since Voldemort was in a teacher, he wasn't affected."

"Then the wards should be changed to at least tell Professor Dumbledore when someone evil is at Hogwarts," said David with a frown. "The wards on the apothecary tell Granny Ilsa if someone with evil intentions enters. And she said that back when Voldemort was in power, she had wards that prevented anyone with an evil heart from entering."

"Actually, Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape suspected that Quirrell was after the Stone and were keeping an eye on him," said Beth. "They didn't know that Voldemort was possessing him, of course, but they figured out his intentions. They kept him at Hogwarts rather than sacking him based on the saying, 'Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.'"

"Oh," said David in understanding. "So-" He broke off at a scrabbling noise and looked around. "Ron, is something wrong with your rat? Why is he running around in his cage?"

Ron shrugged. "Scabbers has been acting like that ever since I returned home. He bit me and ran off the minute I was home, but Mum caught him. I've had to keep him shut up in his cage ever since or he'd try to run away again. He doesn't sleep all day like he used to, and I think he's been getting peaky."

"You should have Scabbers looked at," siggested Alex. "Granny Ilsa could do it and prescribe a tonic for him. She supplies Magical Menagerie with all their animal potions and tonics. She'll be happy to give you a tonic for Scabbers, and do it for free, Ron. Or if you feel that you must pay, she'll just charge you a Sickle. If you went to Magical Menagerie for it, you'd have to pay at least three Sickles."

"Good idea," said Ron. "I'll go ask Mum if I can Floo over to the apothecary now and have Scabbers looked over."

Mrs. Weasley gave her permission, but before Ron was about to leave, Beth exclaimed, "Wait! One of the wards on the apothecary keeps out all animals except for my grandparents' owl and cat. Alex and I had better go first and ask Granny Ilsa to alter the wards temporarily so that Scabbers is allowed in."

Beth and Alex Flooed over to the apothecary, tumbling out of the fireplace and into the workroom. Their mother was brewing a potion, while Granny Ilsa was preparing ingredients. Professor Snape was also there, having arrived a few minutes ago to leave some potions he had made and then stayed to help.

When the two explained matters, Granny Ilsa agreed to look over Scabbers and prescribe a potion for him, and then asked Professor Snape to help her modify the wards so that the rat could enter. When they were done, Alex went back to the fireplace and Fire-called Ron, saying that he could bring Scabbers over.

Seconds later, Ron came out of the fireplace, cage in one hand. Scabbers appeared to be freaking out in it. "Why is your rat behaving in such a manner, Ron?" asked Granny Ilsa. "Is-" She broke off as the pendant she wore suddenly flared silver.

"Someone who is evil just entered," said Ana, looking up from the potion and picking up her wand that had been lying next to the cauldron.

Professor Snape drew out his wand as well, while Granny Ilsa went out front to check up on things. She returned a moment later to say, "Remus said that nobody else has entered the shop within the past two minutes. That must mean that somehow Ron or his rat set off the alarm. As I do not for one second believe that you are evil, Ron, it must therefore be your rat."

"But why would Scabbers be evil?" asked Ron, looking bewildered. "Sure, he's been acting funny lately, but that doesn't mean anything."

"There is one explanation for this," said Ana. "And that is that Scabbers is not really a rat."

"Not really a rat?" asked Alex. "Mum, what are- oh! You mean that he's an Animagus? But the only rat Animagus we know of is Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black killed him!"

Professor Snape almost dropped his wand in shock. "Pettigrew was an Animagus?" he demanded.

Alex nodded. "James Potter, Pettigrew, and Black became Animagi so they could keep Remus company during the full moon. Remus told us."

"I see." said Professor Snape, face unreadable. He strode out of the room. Granny Ilsa Stunned Scabbers and then fetched a bottle of Veritserum. At that point, Snape returned with Remus, who gasped when he saw the rat.

"He does look like Wormtail," Remus whispered, face pale. A closer look caused him to collapse into the nearest chair. "He's missing a toe. And they said that the largest part of Peter that was found was a finger. If Scabbers is really Peter, then that would mean that we have been wrong about Sirius Black."

A look of fury briefly flickered in Snape's face. He had no love for Black, and in fact hated him, but he also didn't want an innocent man in Azkaban. Well, Black wasn't exactly innocent, but he still didn't deserve to be locked up in Azkaban for a crime he didn't commit, while the real person responsible was at large, masquerading as a pet rat.

Ana opened the cage and dumped Scabbers out on the floor. She then pointed her wand at the Stunned rat and silently did a spell. A second later, the rat was turned into the body of a man. Alex stared at the man, who was presumably Peter Pettigrew, noting that he looked rather rat-like. _No wonder his Animagus form was a rat then_, Alex though.

"It's Pettigrew," said Snape harshly, while Remus got to his feet, looking angry now.

Granny Ilsa bound Wormtail in ropes with a flick of her wand, while Ana contacted the Ministry. Ten minutes later, Uncle Tobias and Aunt Maria appeared, with two of their fellow Aurors, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody, a trainee Auror that had a heart-shaped face and pink hair, and the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Amelia Bones. The trainee Auror was introduced as Nymphadora Tonks, who preferred to go by her surname. Alex and Beth could see why, with a first name like that.

Kingsley Shacklebolt revived Wormtail and then Madam Bones administered a few drops of Veritserum. Moody took over the questioning, while Aunt Maria and Madam Bones took notes. It quickly became clear that Wormtail had betrayed Lily and James Potter to Voldemort, as Sirius Black had thought that he would be too obvious as Secret-Keeper. Wormtail was also the one that had blasted the street and killed twelve Muggles when Sirius had confronted him. He had cut off a finger during the explosion and then fled the scene in his rat form, leaving Sirius to take the blame.

When the questioning was over, Wormtail was placed under arrest, and Madam Bones promised that she would do everything she could to see that Sirius's name was cleared and have him released from Azkaban. With four Aurors, a trainee, and a Head of an important Ministry Department as witnesses, Minister Fudge would have to do something about this. The group then left with Wormtail in custody.

Ron, who had looked rather sick when Scabbers had been revealed as Peter Pettigrew, now looked furious. "How could anyone go and betray their friend like that? I would rather die than join You-Know-Who and betray my friends. It's a good thing that he wasn't around when you revealed who you were, Alex."

"Yeah," said Alex. "Well, at least he's caught now, and soon Sirius Black will be free. Mum, since my biological parents named him my godfather, does that mean he can be let in on my secret?"

"We'll have to see how much Azkaban affected him," said Ana. "But I think it should be safe. However, he will have to apologize and make amends for his treatment to Severus like Remus did." Seeing Professor Snape's expression, she added, "I'm not expecting you to be his friend, Severus. But the two of you can at least be civil to one another, like you are with Remus."

Professor Snape nodded. "All right then. May I leave now? I expect that Professor Dumbledore would like to be informed of everything that just happened."

"Of course," said Granny Ilsa. Once Snape had left, she turned to the three preteens. "You may inform your family as to what happened, Ron. Alex and Beth, you can tell your cousins. Oh, and Luna, Neville. and Hermione, can be told too, but the latter two only through your mirrors and not in a letter. I don't want to risk a letter being intercepted and have everything found out before it goes out to the general public. And I suppose I had better set a new ward on the apothecary that will notify me of any Animagi in their animal form that appear."

Alex, Beth, and Ron Flooed back to the Weasley home to tell their families and friends about everything that had just occured.


	16. A Family Gathering

Chapter Summary: Alex/Harry's summer continues and he gets to meet Sirius Black.

Two days later, the front page of the _Daily Prophet _reported Peter Pettigrew's capture and how he was the one responsible for betraying Lily and James Potter to Voldemort and killing twelve Muggles, blaming it all on Sirius. Two trials were conducted, the first one a mere formality that found Sirius Black innocent, issued him a formal apology, gave him twenty thousand Galleons as compensation for his wrongful imprisonment, and requested that he get his Animagus form registered. Once Madam Bones had pointed out that Sirius had been wrongly imprisoned under Millicent Bagnold's term as Minister and Fudge would merely be correcting the mistake of his predecessor and Dumbledore had backed her up, there had been no difficulties whatsoever. Barty Crouch, who had been the one to send Sirius to Azkaban without a trial, was in disgrace with the Ministry, and there was talk of demoting him from his position as Head of the Department of International Wizarding Cooperation, which wasn't one of the higher Department Head position to begin with. The second trial entered the memories of all the witnesses present during Wormtail's questioning, minus the preteens', as evidence, and he was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban.

Sirius was released, relatively sane, and with the help of Remus and Lise Romanov, a Healer, he quickly recovered from his almost eleven years in Azkaban. Once he was well, he apologized to Snape for his bullying of the latter in school. Snape accepted the apology, though it was clear that they would never be friends. After that, Sirius asked about his godson.

"He's not with his Muggle relatives," said Lise. "You must swear to never reveal this to anyone, Sirius, but he is my adopted grandson."

Sirius stared at her in shock. After a moment, he said, "I swear to keep it a secret. Now, please explain what you mean by Harry Potter being your adopted grandson."

"Well, the Dursleys didn't want Harry, and a week after Voldemort's downfall, my daughter-in-law, Anastasia, caught Mr. Dursley leaving Harry on the doorstep of the church in her town. She took Harry, at first thinking that he might be Muggle and perhaps ought to go to an orphanage. When she saw the scar, she realized that he was a wizard, and so she and her husband, my son Stephan, decided to adopt him, making him the twin brother to their daughter Elisabeth. They gave him an Adoption Potion so that he'd look like a member of the family, renamed him Alexander Jacob Romanov, and even went to the Muggle courts to formally adopt him so that nobody can take him away from them. Alex was told the truth about his heritage the day he got his Hogwarts letter, and he has decided to not reveal himself, feeling that it would be safer that way. Outside of his adopted family, the only ones that know the truth are Alex's friends, Remus, Professor Dumbledore, and the Heads of House."

Sirius looked at Remus, who nodded. "Ana and Stephan contacted me a few weeks after they'd adopted Alex, since I had been friends with Lily and James, and explained everything to me. They didn't care that I was a werewolf, and offered to let me live with them and be given the Wolfsbane Potion in exchange for helping look after Alex and Beth and becoming their tutor when they were old enough. Mrs. Ilsa Petrov, Ana's mother, insisted that I make up with Severus first, since she had gotten to know him very well when he was her Potions apprentice and helped him through some difficult times in his life. I had no problem doing so, as I did feel rather guilty about the Marauders' treatment to him, and things progressed from there."

"So what does it all mean for me now?" asked Sirius. "I know I won't actually get custody of Harry, or should I say Alex, and I wouldn't want to remove him from his loving home, but can I at least spend time with him?"

"Of course," said Lise in surprise. "We wouldn't have let you in on the secret if we didn't intend to do that. Severus is godfather to my grandson Ivan, and they spend at least one afternoon a week together, and you are entitled to do the same with your godson, Sirius. Though you will probably have to include Beth, since she and Alex have rarely been separated ever since they became siblings, and Alex recently promised Beth to include her in all his happenings if at all possible."

"That's fine, Healer Romanov," replied Sirius. "I don't mind having a goddaughter in addition to a godson."

Lise then told him about the Romanov and Petrov families and the tradition they had of alternating dinner at each house on weekdays, and invited him to have dinner with them tonight so that he could meet everyone and spend time with Alex and Beth. Sirius immediately accepted.

Dinner was a wonderful affair, and Sirius soon found himself at home with the_ Romany_ families. He couldn't help wishing that his family had been like this. Everyone was very nice to him, and the children asked him some questions about his time at Hogwarts, which he gladly answered. After dinner, Alex and Beth went with him to the living room, where the two talked about their childhoods.

"My life was great," Alex concluded. "A million times better than what it would have been like if my relatives had decided to keep me. Since they apparently didn't want me in the first place, if they had kept me, I'd be neglected at best, and at worst, well, I've read enough books to know that not all children have happy childhoods." He looked somber at this. "I've never been spoiled or anything like that, of course, but simply had a regular childhood that most wizarding children have."

Beth nodded. "Alex is the best brother anyone could have, and even though he's my brother through adoption and not by blood, it doesn't change anything between else. We've done everything together, except for one thing-" here she threw him an annoyed look, "=and along with our parents, we love each other the most in the world."

"We've even been punished together," added Alex. "Including the one and only time we got spanked." Seeing Sirius's questioning look, he explained, "We were seven at the time, and I got the idea that it would be a brilliant prank to switch all the labels on Granny Ilsa's potions and ingredients. Beth agreed with me. Well, at that time, we were allowed to spend one night at month at our grandparents' homes. So when we spending the night with Granny Ilsa and Granddad Eli, we snuck to the workroom after they were asleep, wrote new labels, and pasted them to all the jars we could reach. Then we stuck new labels on the shelves of potions in the storeroom that we could reach."

"Mum and Granny Ilsa discovered what happened when they Summoned ingredients the next day for brewing and saw that they were mislabeled," finished Beth. "They quickly got to the bottom of this, spanked us, and then made it very clear why mislabeling potions and ungredients was dangerous and not funny at all. After that, we knew not to mess around with Potions. People have died or been seriously injured from a potion that went wrong and exploded."

Considering that Ana and her mother were Potion Mistresses, they would know about the dangers of brewing potions. "Well, they handled it properly. Anything else, Alex and Beth?"

They then told Sirius about the prophecy Ana had made and their first year at Hogwarts. "You faced Voldemort?" demanded Sirius in shock. "When he was possessing a teacher and trying to return to power with the Philosopher's Stone?"

Alex nodded. "It was scary, but I stood up to him and fought back. Mum thinks that when Mum Lily died to save me, she left some sort of protection on me and that's why Quirrell and Voldemort couldn't touch me. Professor Dumbledore agrees. But Grandmum Lise told me that I almost died fighing them, and Mum had me and Beth promise to try to avoid stuff like that again until it's time for me to fulfill the prophecy. She wishes I didn't have to, but if Voldemort went after me as a baby, he's not going to give up when he returns to power."

Sirius sighed, wishing the same, but knowing that his godson had a point. "Well, at least you'll be prepared for it, Alex."

"Yeah, but Beth and my friends insist on helping me. I know that in books the hero defeats the bad guy with the help of his or her friends, but I wish my friends didn't have to be involved in the danger. And after what Voldemort said to me, I've been wondering if Mum and Dad did the right thing in adopting me after all.:

Beth got up and left the room, returning a few minutes later with her parents. "Alexander Jacob Romanov, are you really questioning our adopting you?" snapped Ana.

"I just don't want Voldemort targeting you or anyone else in the family!" protested Alex. "If you'd never adopted me, then you wouldn't be targets!"

"We're against him, and have no problem in actively fighting against him, so we'd be targets regardless," said Stephan. "Alex, we knew what could happen when we adopted you, and chose to do so anyway. We love you and you are our son, even if it is through adoption. Your grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all understand the risks as well and are not about to abandon you."

"You may not have been born a _Roma_, but your upbringing has made you one," said Ana. "We do not abandon family. We understand that you desire to protect us, but that is unnecessary, Alex. Your father and I love you just as much as Beth, and we will do anything for the two of you. That's what good parents do. We have never regretted taking you in." She pulled him in a tight hug.

"I'm sorry, Mum and Dad, for questioning the adoption," whispered Alex. "I'm glad you did adopt me, it's just that I-"

"We know," interrupted Stephen, putting his arms arond his wife and adopted son and motioning for Beth to join them. "But we are capable to protecting ourselves, and we will face adversity together as a family. The _Roma_ have faced adversity before and survived. And you know what your grandparents went through in the Holocaust."

Sirius got up and silently left the room at this point, not wanting to intrude on the familial moment. While he would give almost anything for James and Lily to be alive, he was grateful that his godson had found a loving family to stand-in for his biological one.

In the living room, Beth said quietly, "Alex, Mum and Dad are right. I'm glad to have you for a brother, and you are also my very best friend." She took Alex's hand and squeezed it.

After a minute, Ana left the room and returned with the rest of the family. "Apparently Alex has been worried about the fact that we adopted him, thinking that it has made our family a target for Voldemort. Stephan and I set him straight, but he might still have some doubts."

"I like having you for a cousin, Alex!" protested Jonas loudly. "Without you, we'd be one short of a Quidditch team. And I don't care if it's dangerous! V-Voldemort is scary, but I'd still fight against him and his Death Eaters once I'm older. Our family has faced scary things before."

Cara nodded. "Our grandparents survived the Holocaust, and Mum and Dad are Aurors and fought Death Eaters in the war. So stop being so silly, Alex. Ecen if our family never took you in, we'd still fight against Moldy-shorts."

Ivan snickered. "Moldy-shorts. That's hilarious, Cara. Anyway, Alex, they're right."

"I know," responded Alex. "I just hate the idea of the family being in danger because of me."

"You are not responsible for any of this," snapped Aunt Sarah. "None of us would ever side with the magical version of Hitler, and as we are all _Roma_by blood, marriage, or upbringing, most of his Death Eaters already look down on us and would consider us targets. We chose to stand against Voldemort, and would do so even if you hadn't entered out lives."

Grandmum Lise pulled Alex into a hug. "Perhaps you should have been in Hufflepuff, if you're being so noble and loyal and self-sacrificing that you're actually wishing that we'd never adopted you in order to protect us. Look, we know the risks. We have never regretted taking you in, and anyway, we're not any larger targets than before since Voldemort doesn't know who you really are at the moment, and we don't intend for him to find out until the time comes when you have to defeat him for good."

"I love you, Grandmum Lise," whispered Alex, kissing her on the cheek. He then looked at the rest of his adopted family and said, "I love you all as well."

"We love you too, Alex," said Vera solemnly, speaking for all the cousins.

Granddad Vladek cleared his throat and said, "And we adults all love you also."

After that, he and Granny Ilsa went to bed, and everyone else Flooed back to their respective homes, Alex, who had a bedroom of his own since he was four, elected to not go in and instead went to Beth's room, which they had shared back when they were toddlers. Their mother conjured a bed next to Beth's. Alex gazed silently at his sister. Ron and Neville were great friends and good for boy stuff, but when it came down to it, Beth was still his first and best friend and confidant. They had no secrets from each other, other than trivial stuff like what they were getting each other for Christmas or birthdays, or if one of their friends told them a secret and asked them to not tell anyone else.

"Things will be fine, Alex," said Beth quietly, undoing her braid so that her shining black hair fell almost to her waist. He had never thought about it before, but he suddenly realized that his sister was very pretty, even though she was currently clad in her nightgown. A protectiveness welled up through him, and he silently made a vow to keep her safe and not let any boy hurt her, before remembering that she was capable to defending herself and would hex any guy that tried to hurt her before Alex could do anything.

He nodded and then went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and change into his pyjamas. When he came out, Beth went to brush her teeth, and then the two went to bed, falling asleep while holding hands.

Author's Note: Beth and Alex/Harry only have a sibling relationship, and it is staying that way. Besides which, I have already planned out who they are going to end up with. There will be more Sirius in the next chapter, and Hermione will come over to visit.


	17. A House Elf's Warning

Chapter Summary: Neville, Alex, and Beth celebrate their birthdays, Hermione comes to visit for three weeks, and they get a warning.

On the 30th of July was Neville's birthday, and his grandmother allowed him to have a small party with his friends in attendance. As Herbology was his favorite subject and passion, his friends had all gotten gifts related to it. Beth and Alex gave him a pot of various herbs, Ron gave him a small box with several packets of seeds, Ginny a journal to keep track of his plants and their growth, Hermione sent a book on plants that grew on or next to lakes and other bodies of water, Luna a cutting of a Dirigible Plum bush, and David a seedling of a Flutterby bush. Neville immediately planted the seeds and plants in the family greenhouse with the help of his friends, noted it down in the new journal, and as one of the seed packets was of a plant that grew near ponds, looked it up in the book.

On the first of August, Hermione came to visit for the next three weeks. After she got settled in the small guest room, Beth and Alex introduced her to Ginny, Luna, and David. Having been warned about Luna's quirks ahead of time, Hermione simply took the younger girl's odd comments in stride.

Ron and Neville had come over for the afternoon also, so the eight of them went up to the tree house, Beth and David wandlessly levitating two trays of drinks and snacks to the table. Seeing Hermione's shocked look, David explained, "The _Roma_ use wandless magic more than most wizards, since we either couldn't afford to buy wands or they were just polished sticks in the past. One of the adults will teach you some, since they've done so with our other _Gajo_ friends. Don't worry about using magic outside of school, since the Ministry of Magic can't tell when you're in a wizarding home. They'll just assume that an adult witch or wizard is doing the magic, so it's up to our parents or guardians to enforce the rule."

"Of course, we can't use magic outside of learning wandless magic or for something like this," said Beth. "We can't exactly climb up to the tree house and carry a tray of food and drinks at the same time. If any of the adults caught us doing magic outside of that, we'd be punished in some way."

The eight of them settled around the table and Alex and Ginny poured ice cold lemonade for everyone.

"It's great that you're here, Hermione," said Alex. "And the timing is perfect, since you said you wanted to learn more about _Romany_ culture. Every year our family goes camping in our _vardos_ for a week so that we get to experience what traveling around was like for the _Roma_. This year we're leaving the day after Beth's and my birthdays. The Weasleys and Luna came with us last year, and they're coming again this year, and Mrs. Longbottom said that Neville can join us this year too."

"That's wonderful!" exclaimed Hermione with enthusiasm. "Mum and Dad took me camping before once, but I would love to do it the way that Gypsies, I mean _Roma_ did. It'll be-"

A loud popping noise interrupted her and they all turned to see what had caused the sound. To their utter surprise, it was a house-elf, and not one of the two house-elves that Neville's family employed.

"What in the name of Merlin is a house-elf doing in our tree house?" demanded David.

The house-elf, dressed in a dirty and rather worn pillowcase, bowed low and said, "Such an honor it is to meet the ones that stopped He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named over a month ago."

Alex blinked in surprise, but said kindly, "Hello. What is your name?"

"Dobby, sir," replied the elf. "Dobby the house-elf. Is you being Alexander Romanov?"

"Yes, Dobby," answered Alex. "But you can call me Alex. This is my sister Beth, our cousin David, and our friends Hermione, Ron, Neville, Ginny, and Luna. Why are you here, Dobby?"

Dobby twisted the hem of his pillowcase nervously. "Dobby is warning you! There is dark deeds being plotted for Hogwarts! It is not safe for you to return!"

"Not return?" asked Hermione blankly. "But we have to, if we want to get a good magical education!"

"And me, Luna, and David are going to start Hogwarts!" protested Ginny. "We can't skip our first year!"

Dobby twisted his ears and continued, "It is not being safe at Hogwarts! You are all in danger! Dobby is hearing things, and the plot is being to hurt Alex and Beth Romanov and their friends!" A horrified look came to his face. "Dobby should not have said that! Bad Dobby!" He looked around and then picked up a book and began hitting himself on the head with it.

Beth immediately jumped up and stopped him. Putting the book back in the bookcase, she said calmly, "If you're going to punish yourself, Dobby, then please don't do it in front of us. And please don't punish yourself by hurting yourself. You could do some extra chores instead."

"That's what my family's house-elves do," added Neville, who looked shocked at Dobby's behavior.

"You don't work for a very nice family, do you Dobby?' asked Luna, a slight frown on her face.

Dobby shook his head, then his eyes widened and he started hitting his head against one of the cushions on the sofa. Though a cushion wouldn't hurt him any, Beth removed it and said gently, "Dobby, could you please stop? You can punish yourself for whatever you did wrong later."

Dobby straightened and squeaked, "Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, miss."

Beth turned away and from the pained look in her eyes, Alex knew that despite her outward calm, inside she was furious at Dobby's treatment and felt deeply sorry for him. "You shouldn't be treated so awfully like that, Dobby," said Alex. "If only you worked for someone nicer, or worked at Hogwarts. The book I read about the Founders said that Helga Hufflepuff made Hogwarts a haven for house-elves."

"Dobby must serve the Malfoy family faithfully unless Dobby is set free," responded Dobby firmly.

The eight of them exchanged looks upon hearing that, though they really weren't surprised. Considering how rude and annoying Draco Malfoy was, it was no wonder he and his parents were mean to elves. "Er, thank you for your warning, Dobby," said Ron awkwardly. "But we have to return to Hogwarts. Don't worry, we'll be careful and do our best to avoid any dark plots. Okay?"

"And we'll tell our parents and have them warn Professor Dumbledore," added David.

"Dobby supposes that will do," said the elf. "Dobby is leaving now. Good-bye, sirs and misses." With that, he bowed and then disappeared with a loud pop.

There was a moment of silence as Beth sat down again. Hermione was first to break it. "It's just awful about how Dobby was acting, punishing himself like that. And having to work for the Malfoys! How do you free a house-elf? And what plot could the Malfoys be planning if Dobby felt the need to warn us?"

"I don't know, and to free a house-elf they have to given an item of clothing," answered Neville. "Even something like a hat or sock will do. Oh, and it has to be a member of the family that they work for that gives the clothes. The clothing has to be directly handed too, since my family's house-elves can do the laundry without being set free. I'm sure some elves, like Dobby, will want freedom, but most won't."

"Why not?" asked Hermione. "It's basically slavery, what the house-elves have to go through!"

"House-elves are different from humans," replied Beth patiently. "They love to work, and giving them clothes would be the same as sacking them in disgrace. Those that are treated horribly, like Dobby, probably wouldn't mind, but once they're free, they'd just find someone much nicer to work for."

"Oh. I didn't realize. So Hogwarts has house-elves working there? Why don't we see them?"

"They're in the kitchens most of the time and do the cleaning and whatnot after everyone's in bed," responded Alex. "Supposedly not seeing them do their work is a mark of a good house-elf."

David made a face. "There should be a law on decent treatment for elves. Well, there's a plot that the Malfoys are involved in, or Dobby wouldn't know about it, and so we'll have to be on our guard."

"We'd better let the rest of the family know," said Beth. "And ask Ivan to tell Professor Snape when they're spending their weekly afternoon together and pass on the message to Dumbledore."

At dinner that night, Beth, Alex, and David told the rest of the family about Dobby's visit and the warning he had given. Grandmum Lise looked visibly disturbed. "Why are things suddenly happening now? After Voldemort's defeat, nothing out-of-the-ordinary happened at Hogwarts for ten years. Then suddenly Voldemort's after the Philosopher's Stone, and now there's a plot from the Malfoys, and might involve Voldemort somehow, since I'm sure Lucius Malfoy was lying about not being a Death Eater."

Sirius, who was currently staying at the apothecary until the Black family home was put in order, commented, "If it weren't for the fact that Alex's true identity wasn't common knowledge, I'd wonder if all this had something to do with him. Have you gotten any visions about this, Maria?"

Aunt Maria shook her head. "The only visions I've gotten recently were who the new Defence teacher is going to be and that it's going to rain tomorrow, Sirius. Nothing el-"

Ana dropped her fork and stiffened, cutting her sister off. Everyone turned to look at Ana, who intoned in a dreamy, ethereal voice not unlike Luna's, "_The last known descendant of Salazar Slytherin shall attempt to enter Hogwarts. Slytherin's monster will be unleashed, causing great danger at the school. Students will be attacked, but the monster can be slain and the evil stopped._"

Sirius, who had never seen Ana, or anyone else for that matter, give a prophecy, and Hermione, who was uncertain about the subject of Divination ever since Professor McGonagall had said that it was a very imprecise branch of magic, were quite shocked by the display. Everyone else was shocked too, but by the contents of the prophecy.

Ana recovered and seeing everyone staring at her and her fork on the ground, asked, "I take it I made another prophecy?" Stephan nodded and she continued, "That is rather odd, since I make one prophecy a year at best, and have never made one four months after the last one." Seeing inquiring looks from those that didn't know about the previous prophecy, she explained, "I made one four months ago that said that the Dark Lord will attempt something- the prophecy didn't state what it was- and fail, and following that, one of his servants would be revealed. I dismissed it until Voldemort tried to get the Philosopher's Stone, and then two weeks later Peter Pettigrew got found out. Well, what did my new prophecy say?"

Uncle Tobias told her. When she heard, her pace paled. "Salazar Slytherin was rumored to have built a secret chamber in Hogwarts that he concealed from the other Founders and then hidden some dangerous creature in it that only he and others of his lineage could control. Based on my prophecy, it could mean that the rumor is true."

"Perhaps this prophecy won't come true," said Aunt Sarah, but she didn't sound like she believed it. "In any case, Professor Dumbledore will have to be warned. Ivan, could you tell your godfather about all this and ask him to pass on the news to the headmaster?"

"Okay, _Mamen_," replied Ivan. Dinner resumed, but all anyone could think about was Dobby's warning and the prophecy that Ana had made.

It rained the next morning, as Aunt Maria had predicted, so the Gryffindor Quintet stayed inside and took turns reading out loud from the newest book in the _Redwall_ series, _Mariel of Redwall_. Luna, Ginny, and David spent their time with Jonas, who was currently not happy about being the youngest one and forced to wait another year until he could go to Hogwarts. He kept wishing that he had been three months earlier, which would put him before the cutoff date, even though his parents had pointed out that he might not be alive if that had happened, since even with magic, babies born three months premature had a low chance of survival. He had simply retorted that they could have conceived him three months earlier, at which point his mother had snapped that God planned things in His own time and banned him from having dessert for talking back. It didn't help matters that he had nobody to wait with him, since his closest friends were all starting Hogwarts this year.

The next day was the birthday party. The 'twins' had been given new outfits by their parents, and the two put them on. Beth had on white top with scarlet and gold embroidery done in the _Romany_ style and a scarlet skirt with gold bangles and embroidery. Her hair was tied back with a gold and scarlet scarf, and she wore gold hoop earrings and bangle bracelets that Granny Ilsa gave her. Alex wore a white shirt with green embroidery that matched his eyes, a green sash, and emerald green trousers with silver embroidery. He also had on a silver bracelet with spelled runes for protection engraved on it and a silver headband set with (fake) emeralds from Grandmum Lise.

There was a Quidditch match, with Alex and Beth as the captains of each team. Since Cedric wasn't there like last year, Beth took the position of Seeker for her team and picked Hermione to take her place of Chaser. Otherwise, the teams were identical to one from last year. Needless to say, Alex's team won, for Beth wasn't quite a good a Seeker as her brother, and Hermione wasn't exactly a very good Chaser. After that, they decided to have Alex, Beth, and their cousins play against everyone else. Since Ginny was the only one on the other team that was good enough to play Seeker, she took that role. However, that meant all three of their Chasers (Luna, Hermione, and Neville) were passable at best, since Ginny and Beth were the ones that were truly brilliant at it.

In the end, Alex and Beth's team won, but that was only because Alex's broom was faster that Ginny's, enabling him to catch the Snitch first. After the second match, Sirius said, "You're just as brilliant on a broom as your father was, Alex. Though he was a Chaser rather than a Seeker, even if he did like playing with a Snitch off the Quidditch pitch."

"Well, it's not like he could play around with a Quaffle, Sirius," responded Alex. "He'd look stupid doing so. And using the Snitch would help him with his reflexes."

There was cake, ice cream, and some triangular pastries stuffed with jam that Aunt Sarah normally made for the Jewish holiday of Purim, but had contributed to the party since she knew how much Beth and Alex liked them. Following the food was presents. The largest one was a Nimbus Two Thousand and One for each of them, which their aunts and uncles had gotten together to buy, since it was a rather expensive broom. Their cousins had gotten them various Muggle books, and their grandfathers gave them Defence books. Sirius gave them each a broomstick servicing kit. Hermione gave Beth a lovely stationery set and Alex an art set, since he sometimes liked to sketch, though he wasn't as good at art or as passonate about as his dormmate Dean Thomas was. Neville gave them both some books on potion brewing, and Ron gave them each a book on Quidditch. Ginny gave them each a journal like the one she'd given Neville, except theirs was for Potions. Fred and George gave them some prank items, Percy a book each on Transfiguration, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley some sweets, and Remus gave them each a book on wandless magic. Professor Snape, who had been invited, dropped by for a few minutes, giving Beth and Alex each a well-stocked Potions kit, told them that he had passed on Dobby's warning and the prophecy to Dumbledore, and then left.

In the evening, everyone packed up some ckithes and other necessary items for the camping trip that was starting tomorrow, and then went to bed.


	18. A Week at Camp

The Petrov and Romanov families and their guests arrived at the campsite used each year, the five _vardos_ drawn by horses that had been hired for the week. Grandpa Vladek paid the manager and then camp was set up. After the horses were unhitched, they were tended to. Beth took Hermione to one of the horses and demonstrated how to brush him and check his hooves for stones. Alex did the same with Neville. Meanwhile, the Weasley twins, Ivan, Vera, Sirius, and Aunt Sarah fetched buckets of water.

After the horses had been fed and watered and picketed out so that they could graze, Granny Ilsa and Granddad Eli built a fire. Ana set up a large soup cauldron over the fire. Mrs. Weasley and Aunt Maria got out ingredients for a good stew from a food cabinet in one of the vardos, washed and chopped the vegetables, and put them in the cauldron with some water.

While the stew was cooking, Luna, Neville, Jonas, Ginny, Cara, and David got out bowls and utensils, and the others got out bread and cheese and cut them up. As they worked, Beth explained to Hermione and Neville some aspects about Romany camping and the few differences between theirs and the situation in the past. For one thing, they had plenty of food for the week, while caravans in the past weren't always so lucky and had to deal with coming up with food for their next meal.

Ivan added, "So none of us have to worry about going hungry. The only times anyone in the family has ever gone without food for a day in the past forty years were on Jewish fast days, like Yom Kippur. Our grandparents have made sure of that." His eyes hardened slightly and his tone was flat as he continued, "It's all because of the bloody Holocaust. Otherwise our parents probably would send us to bed without dinner as a punishment like some parents do, instead of just taking away dessert."

Hermione almost dropped the knife in her hand, and did drop the slice of cheese she had just cut. "You never told me that your grandparents survived the Holocaust, Beth and Alex!"

"You never asked," answered Alex. "Besides, we did tell you that they moved to Britain a couple years after World War Two, so you should have figured out that it meant they survived the Holocaust."

"But they're wizards, so I thought they used magic to escape having to go through it," she protested,

"And most of the Roma are magical, but a majority of them still perished," pointed out Vera. "Besides, our grandparents were only teenagers at the time and didn't know enough magic that would enable them to hide from the Nazis. And Granny Ilsa's parents were Squibs."

Hermione nodded in understanding. Alex got out a plate to put the bread slices on, and as he did so, noticed that Vera wasn't working next to Percy, which was rather odd, since the two were best friends. In fact, it was almost as if she was avoiding him, and Alex recalled that she hadn't spent any time with Percy since Sirius had been released. Come to think of it, Percy had been holed up in his room a great deal since the holidays started, and he hadn't made a big deal about earning twelve OWLs, which was not like him, since he had been very proud and showed it when he had gotten the prefect badge.

"Do you think Vera and Percy had a fight?" Alex whispered to Beth. "They haven't been together lately."

Beth shook her head. "I think it's something else. The last time they ever fought over something was back when they were like five, according to Mrs. Weasley, and that was over a toy. And any time Vera gets into a fight, she apologizes the next day and makes up. I can talk to her and find out what's wrong."

An hour later, lunch was ready. Some benches and stools were set up, and each person was given a bowl of stew and a spoon. Three plates of bread and cheese were passed around. For drinks there was tea and juice, and dessert consisted of fruit and some biscuits that Mrs. Weasley had made the day before.

After lunch, Ana gave Hermione her first lesson in wandless magic by demonstrating the Cleaning Charm and then having her practice on the dishes. It took several tries, but after nine times of concentrating and saying, "Scourgify", a bowl was magically cleaned. She then cleaned the rest of bowls with the spell, and after that was told it was enough practice. Vera and Ivan took over cleaning the cups and spoons, and then Ron, Beth, Alex, and Luna put the dishes away.

In the afternoon, the Gryffindor quintet and Sirius went for a walk. That way Hermione, Neville, and Sirius could get themselves familiarized with the campsite, and the latter also had an opportunity to talk and know his godson and his closest friends better. The other kids went the small lake for swimming or to just relax, with Percy and Vera in charge of the group since they were the oldest.

As Alex hadn't gone into detail about the troll that had appeared on Halloween or how it had led to the group becoming friends with Hermione, the quintet told Sirius the whole story. "After that, Ron and Alex looked past the fact that I came across as annoying and became great friends," Hermione concluded. "Though Alex had been making an effort before that."

Sirius smiled. "The Gryffindor Quintet reminds me of the Marauders, except with an extra member. Or like the Marauders with Lily hanging out with us when she started dating James. Except of course none of you would ever betray each other. Maybe one of you will be like Lily and another like James."

Ron and Hermione made choking noises at what the last sentence implied, Neville blushed, and Beth and Alex exchanged significant looks before looking at the first two. While Ron and Hermione didn't exactly have the same relationship that James and Lily Potter did, they argued like an old married couple and actually seemed to get some enjoyment out of their bickering. In fact, they reminded Alex and Beth of the characters Aravis and Shasta/Prince Cor in the Chronicles of Narnia book The Horse and His Boy, who at the end of the book were said to have gotten so used to quarreling and making up again that when they grew up, 'they got married so as to go on doing it more conveniently'.

Sirius caught the look and hid a smile. Ron then hastily changed the subject to ask about a prank the Marauders had done. After the walk, they got their swim suits and towels and headed for the lake. Vera was sitting rather stiffly against a tree, listening to Percy talk next to her. There was a smile on her face, but it wasn't real, for it didn't reach her eyes. When she saw the others, she got up and rushed over to them. "I can't stand another second being around Percy!" she hissed. "All he can talk about is his-' She immediately broke off, face red.

Beth, who was beginning to have a inkling as to why Vera was trying to avoid Percy, said, "Why don't we talk about it, Vera? In private. I promise to keep whatever you tell me secret."

Vera looked rather relieved. "All right, Beth. But you can tell Alex, since I know you two don't really have secrets from each other, as long as he keeps his mouth shut about it too."

"I won't tell anyone, Vera," promised Alex. "You know I wouldn't tell secrets about family members without permission regardless."

Hermione went off to hang out with Ginnny and Luna, while Alex, Ron, and Neville changed into their swimming trunks and jumped into the lake. Sirius sat down to talk with Percy, and Beth and Vera went off to a secluded area.

"I take it something else has gotten Percy's interest and you don't like it, Vera?" asked Beth.

"He has a girlfriend," responded Vera. "Her name is Penelope Clearwater, she's in Ravenclaw like me, except in the year above me, and she's a prefect. That's how she and Percy got to know each better. They knew each other before, since they share a couple of classes, but prefect duties together got them closer."

Beth had not been expecting that answer, and asked in puzzlement, "But why would Percy having a girlfriend bother you so much? You're best friends with him and should be delighted for him. If one of my friends, Ron for example, got a girlfriend, I'd be happy for him."

"Well, you're not in love with Ron," pointed out Vera bitterly.

"Yes, but-" Beth suddenly realized why her cousin was so upset. "You're in love with Percy. Or at least have a crush on him, since you're only fifteen. You would like your relationship with him to go beyond platonic friendship, but now that he has a girlfriend, it's not possible now, unless he breaks up with her and turns to you. Why don't you tell Percy how you feel?"

"Elisabeth!" exclaimed Vera, looking horrified. "Girls just don't go around saying how they feel outright like that until they are in a relationship! Or until the boy makes the first move."

"Aunt Sarah told Uncle Niko how she felt about him before they started dating," replied Beth. "She just went up to him one day, said that she saw him as more than a friend and would likely marry him someday, and he said he felt the same way. After that, they started dating."

"You mean courting, since they had marriage in mind at the end of it all," corrected Vera. "And the case with my parents is different. They had crushes on each other ever since they got to know each other, and only did something about it in fifth year, when they felt old enough to start dating."

"This isn't a hundred years ago, when men were expected to make the first move," said Beth. "And sometimes girls have to start things, because they boy is too shy to do so, or for some other reason. And you've read _The Blue Castle_ by L. M. Montgomery. Valancy was the one to propose to Barney."

"That's because Valancy thought she only had a year to live, didn't want to go back to her stifling family, and had fallen in love with Barney, despite all the gossip about him. She wanted a year of happiness with him, and by the end, he had fallen in love back, turned out to be the son of a millionaire, and she wasn't going to die after all because of a mix-up with the letter the doctor sent. And Valancy and Barney, or should I say Bernard, are fictional characters! Percy and I aren't!"

Beth sighed. "You have a point, Vera. I sympathize with you, but as I'm only twelve and have no experience with love, I can't give you the kind of advice you need. Maybe you should talk to your mum about it. Well, all I can say is that I hope Percy opens his eyes and realizes he should be with you."

"That's not going to happen anytime soon," snapped Vera. "They've been writing back and forth to each other all summer. That's why Percy has been holed up in his room so much. And when Percy is with me, he goes on and on about how wonderful Penelope is. Like how beautiful she is, and how she's the only one that really understands him, since his family doesn't. How can he forget that I've been his best friend since we were practically babies and so I know him better than anyone except his parents? That I understand him completely and keep him from becoming a 'stick-in-the-mud' like Fred says he is?"

Beth had nothing to say to this, for what Vera said was true. Vera did understand Percy completely, and while he was definitely more uptight compared to his brothers, he wasn't like, say, Mr. Crouch. From what Aunt Maria and Uncle Toby had said of Mr. Crouch, he was really uptight, and would and had thrown family members to the wolves if they did something against the law. Also, he had been the one that sent Sirius to Azkaban without a trial, which didn't endear him to the family or their friends.

After a moment of silence, Vera got up. "Thank you for listening to me, Beth, and trying to give me some advice. I'm just going to have to get over my feelings for Percy and date someone else. Larry Spencer, who is in my year, said he liked me and asked if we could go out sometime, just before the holidays started. I said yes to avoid hurting his feelings, and I suppose we'll become a couple now. He's nice."

After she had left, Beth returned to Alex and told him in a whisper that Percy was dating fellow prefect Penelope Clearwater and Vera was upset because she had feelings for him too. Alex's reaction was quite unexpected. "What? I am going to hex Percy Weasley! Twice!"

Beth stared at him. "Alex! What are you talking about? You're not going to hex him!"

"Yes I am!" retorted Alex angrily. "Once for not realizing how wonderful and perfect Vera is for him, and once for hurting her by dating something else. No one is going to hurt my cousin and get away with it."

"You will do no such thing, Alexander," reproved Beth. "Hexing Percy is not going to suddenly make him realize that Vera's the one for him, and he doesn't know he's hurting her by dating Penelope. Besides, it isn't your job to hex boys that hurt Vera. That would be Jonas and Ivan's job, since they're her brothers."

Alex opened his mouth to retort, then shut it again as he remembered that it generally was the father or brothers of a girl that would go after any boy that hurt her in some way in books. Finally he said, "Fine, but I'm going to tell Ivan so he can go and hex Percy for hurting Vera."

"Alexander Jacob Romanov, you promised Vera to not tell," reminded Beth sternly.

"Okay, I won't say anything." He sighed, hoping nothing like this would ever happen to Beth. He didn't want her falling for a boy only to discover that he was dating someone else. For that matter, he also hoped that he would never do anything like that. He would feel awful if he dated someone only to discover that Hermione, Luna, or Ginny had feelings for him. Well, Hermione probably wouldn't develop feelings for him, if her relationship with Ron was any indication, but Ginny or Luna possibly could.

"You'd better not, Alex. And Vera said that she's going to get over her feelings and date someone else."

Alex blinked in surprise, but didn't comment, instead asking Beth if she wanted to help plan a prank on Sirius, since he wouldn't start a prank war like the Weasley twins would. She was startled by the subject change, but agreed and the two of them joined their friends in brainstorming and swimming.

Dinner that evening consisted of roasted potatoes, fried fish that the adults had caught, and the leftover stew for those that didn't like fish. The prank was carried out, with a spell put on the potato for Sirius so that he had bright pink hair temporarily after eating it. Everyone had a good laugh at it.

After dinner, they sat around the fire and toasted marshmallows while singing songs and telling stories. When it was finally time for bed, Grandmum Lise announced the sleeping arrangements. Normally each household had a _vardo_ to themselves, but now it was changed to accommodate the guests. The interior of each _vardo_ had been altered so that it could sleep up to six people. The adults had two _vardos_, three couples to each. The six girls were in a third, and the nine boys plus Sirius had the remaining two.

Alex, Ron, Neville, David, and Jonas entered their vardo. There were two narrow bunks along each side wall, and another two along the back wall. Thanks to magic, it was larger on the inside than the outside, so it wasn't terribly cramped. They each claimed a bunk and then brushed their teeth and changed into their pajamas. After that, they got into their respective bunks and were soon asleep.

The rest of the week passed pleasantly. Hermione and Neville got better at tending the horses. The only lessons were on wandless magic, for an hour each day. The rest of the time, except for meals, bed, and chores, the teens and preteens were allowed to do whatever they wished, within reason.

In between hanging out with his friends and Sirius, Alex finished reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Simarillion, which Ivan and Cara had given him for his birthday. Having read The Hobbit last year, he enjoyed reading more of J. R. R. Tolkien's works, and found the books fascinating.

On the last day of the camping trip, at breakfast time, the Hogwarts letters arrived. Jonas jumped to his feet, causing the plate with what was left of his breakfast to fall off his lap. "It's not fair!" he burst out angrily as the letters were being distributed. "Why can't the cutoff date be later?"

Hermione pointed out, "If the cutoff date were later, then I wouldn't have been in the same year as my fr-"

"Oh shut up!" interrupted Jonas nastily. "At least you're in the same year as your friends. I won't be!"

Before his parents could scold him for being rude or anyone else could react, he kicked his plate to one side, threw the fork in his hand, which landed on the roof of one of the _vardos_, and ran off. "I'll talk with him," said Granny Ilsa with a sigh, setting down her plate and getting up. Uncle Niko took out his wand and Summoned the fork from off the roof.

There was complete silence for several minutes, with Ginny and David looking rather uncomfortable. Luna did not, but she had a sympathetic look on her face as she gazed in the direction Jonas had run off. Finally Vera broke it by opening her letter and gasping. With a shocked look on her face, she withdrew a blue and bronze badge. A second later, she threw it on the ground. "That'll just upset Jonas even more!" she snapped. "Why do I have to be made prefect when he can't attend Hogwarts this year?"

Aunt Sarah picked up the badge. "Vera Magda Petrov, will you act your age? You ought to be happy that you were made prefect. While he has every right to be upset, your brother is behaving like a six-year old throwing a tantrum because he was denied a sweet, and it should not impact your behavior in any way. So be glad that you are made a prefect and think about what you want as a reward."

Vera reluctantly took her prefect badge and stowed it away in her pocket. The rest proceeded to open their letters. Alex frowned when he saw that almost all of his entire booklist was composed of Lockhart books. He knew that Mrs. Weasley had something of a celebrity crush on Gilderoy Lockhart, who was rather good-looking and had done amazing things, according to his books. Alex wondered if the new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher was a fan, which would explain why the books were assigned.

"Mum, aren't Lockhart's books really expensive?" asked David, looking up from his supply list. "And there's the rest of my books, plus my wand and robes and cauldron and everything else. Well, besides my Potions supplies, since Granny Ilsa is paying for those."

"David, you don't have to worry," replied Aunt Maria. "You know your father and I are Aurors and make enough money to afford your school things."

"I know that," answered David. "I was trying to refer to someone else without mentioning names."

Aunt Maria frowned slightly, then nodded in understanding as she glanced at Ginny. "Molly, Ginny's birthday is the day after tomorrow, correct? I'll be happy to buy her wand and robes as a present."

"I'll pay for everything," interrupted Sirius. "For all the Weasley kids. I've got a whole pile of money that I could never spend in a lifetime, it would really upset my dear old mum if she were alive to know about it, and anyway, you're family, Arthur and Molly, even if you're more distant cousins than close ones."

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley tried to protest, but Sirius cut them off, insisting that they'd be doing him a favor by letting him pay for their kids' Hogwarts supplies. He also pointed out that he was paying for Alex and Beth's supplies, which reconciled them to the idea in the end.

Cara, the Weasley twins, Ivan, and Vera were in the middle of putting the just washed dishes away when Jonas and Granny Ilsa returned. Jonas walked up to Hermione and said, "I'm really sorry that I was so rude to you, Hermione. Just because I was upset didn't give me any right to take it out on you."

"It's all right, Jonas," responded Hermione. "You're forgiven." He nodded and then went to his mother, who hugged him and took him inside one of the _vardos_.

The next morning, after breakfast, everything was packed up and the families left the campground. Once back to their respective homes, the horses were returned to the stable they had been rented from. Everyone then settled back into their normal schedules.

Author's Note: Sorry about the wait for this update. I had some internet issues, and also had to figure out how I wanted things to go for second year.


	19. An Incident at Flourish and Blotts

The next day, on the twelfth, was Ginny's eleventh birthday. There was a party for her, which started out with a Quidditch match. Ginny was able to snag all the best Quidditch players for her team, except for Luna, who was only a fair Chaser, and so her side won. After that there was a game of Exploding Snap, followed by some reminiscing of her previous birthdays. The most memorable one had been her sixth birthday, which had involved pretend marriages.

At that time, Beth and Ginny were enamored with the idea of weddings, and had the 'brilliant' idea to act some out on the latter's birthday. The boys weren't that thrilled with the idea, but had gone along, so there had been pretend weddings between Beth and Neville, Alex and Luna, and Ginny and David. Ron was assigned to play best man for the three couples, Cara as the bridesmaid, and Jonas was the ring bearer, carrying a small pillow holding six rings that Mrs. Weasley had transfigured from buttons. Fred and George had been dragooned into performing the services, which may or may not have been a mistake, since they had messed around with the vows and instead of things like "Till death do you part" and "for richer or poorer" had said, "For the few measly years until you snuff it" and "even if you don't have two Knuts to rub together or you have buckets of Galleons." While everyone had dissolves into giggles over it, Ginny and Beth had also been a bit annoyed that Fred and George had to play around.

Hermione laughed when she heard the story. "That must have been fun," she remarked. Neville and Alex made faces, David groaned, and Ron rolled his eyes and muttered that at least he had escaped having to play a groom. After that, cake and ice cream were served and then Ginny opened her presents.

A week later was the day to get the school supplies. The Petrov and Romanov families had arranged to go with their friends. Also, Professor Snape had been roped into taking two new Muggleborns, twins, and their family to Diagon Alley and explaining things. As he was a bit unsure as to whether he would do a good job, Aunt Sarah had invited him to join the group so they could help, and he had accepted.

There was a bit of trouble when it was discovered that Hermione had not come out of the Diagon Alley grate. Beth and Ron looked extremely worried, and Alex had to reassure them, "Hermione probably just came out one grate too far, guys. Dad will look for her."

A few minutes later, Hermione showed up with Hagrid. It turned out that she had ended up in Knockturn Alley, and fortunately Hagrid was there buying some Flesh-Eating Slug Repellant and so had spotted her. With a grimace, Hermione explained that she had ended up in the shop of Borgin and Burkes, hid in a cabinet when she saw Draco Malfoy and his father walk in, and left when they were gone.

"Was Lucius Malfoy buying anything?" asked Mr. Weasley sharply.

"No, he was selling, Mr. Weasley," replied Hermione. "He mentioned that the items would be awkward to have around in case there was a raid on his home." She then whispered to her friends, "And he didn't seem happy that a 'girl of no wizarding parentage' and a 'Gypsy' did better than his son in the exams."

She and Beth exchanged grins, while Alex, Ron, and Neville stifled snickers. The group then went down to their vaults to withdraw money, while Stephan took Hermione to the counter to exchange pounds for Galleons. By the time they all returned, Professor Snape had shown up with a woman and her three children. The woman looked like the pictures Alex had of his biological mother, except her eyes were blue instead of green. She also appeared to be the same age as Lily would have been if she were still alive. Of the three children, two were girls and one was a boy. One of the girls looked to be a year or two younger than the others. She had curly blonde hair, lighter than Luna's dirty blonde but darker than the platinum blond that the Malfoys had, and sapphire blue eyes. The other girl had strawberry blonde hair done in a long plait and blue-green eyes, while the boy had auburn hair and emerald green eyes.

"Good morning," said the woman. "I am Eva Rosenberg. The twins are Adam and Leah, who are starting Hogwarts, and my other daughter is named Esther. She will start Hogwarts next year."

Jonas brightened when he heard that and quickly introduced himself, adding that he wouldn't start Hogwarts until next year too. "Then you know what it's like to have to wait!" exclaimed Esther.

"That's a relief. I didn't really fancy having to be alone for the next year, since there's only so much reading I can do before I get a headache and I don't exactly have friends outside of my siblings." She blushed, but continued, "The kids at school think I'm too much of a bookworm, and all the accidental magic I did just made things worse. The one friend I did make moved last year, so I've been by myself lately."

"Want to be friends, then?" asked Jonas. "I like to read too, and won't think you weird or anything."

"That's because you can do magic too, Jonas," answered Esther with a laugh. "Sure, I'd like that. We can keep each other company as we wait until we're old enough to join our siblings at Hogwarts.

Just not on Saturday mornings, since that's when I go to the synagogue. My family's Jewish."

Jonas perked up even more. "My family's Jewish too, Esther. Well, Jewish and Romany. Religion-wise my siblings and I are raised Jewish, because of our mother, and culturally we're raised a mix of both."Esther looked interested and started asking Jonas questions, which he did his best to answer. Everyone else introduced themselves to the Rosenbergs. Adam and Leah struck up a conversation with Ginny, Luna, and David. After a few minutes of this, Alex had a suspicion that they might form their own quintet like he, Beth, Neville, Ron, and Hermione had done.

Hermione's parents showed up then, for they were going to take their daughter back home after the shopping trip. They hugged Hermione and then were whisked off by Mr. Weasley in order to have a drink at the Leaky Cauldron and so he could ask them some questions about the Muggle world.

The five first-years, Esther, Jonas, their respective parents, and Professor Snape then headed off to Madam Malkin's for robes, while the rest went their own directions. The Gryffindor quintet bought some ice creams and then stopped at Petrov's Potions to pick up their Potion supplies for the upcoming year. Granny Ilsa was busy brewing a potion, so Remus gave them their ingredients, free of charge.

After buying some parchment and ink, the quintet went to Flourish and Blotts to get their school books. When they arrived, they saw that the bookstore was rather busy, since Gilderoy Lockhart was signing copies of his autobiography there. Hermione looked excited at the prospect of actually meeting him, since he had written most of the booklist. Alex and Ron rolled their eyes at this.

Unfortunately, Lockhart spotted Sirius, and insisted on having 'a famous wizard that had been wrongly accused but now had justice served' be photographed with him. After that, Lockhart presented Sirius with copies of his books and announced that he was to be the new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher.

When Sirius was able to get away, he looked around and then made a beeline to Leah, dropping the stack of Lockhart books in her cauldron. "I have no need of the idiot's books, so you can have them."

"Thank you, Mr. Black," answered Leah, turning a bit pink.

"Well, what a surprise to see you here, Black," said a cold voice from behind them.

Sirius whirled around to see Draco and Lucius Malfoy. "Malfoy," Sirius practically spat. "So, I heard that you were selling items of a sensitive nature today? Very interesting."

"Where did you hear something as ridiculous as that?" demanded Mr. Malfoy.

"That is for me to know and you to find out," returned Sirius. He glanced at Draco and added, "So this is my young cousin. Draco, is it? From what I've heard, you're very much like your parents."

"You're not my cousin," snapped Draco. "The Blacks disowned you."

"Even so, I inherited everything when my brother died, and am head of the family. So behave yourself."

"I think you are the one that needs behave yourself, Black," interrupted Mr. Malfoy. "But then again, I shouldn't have expected less of you. Still hanging around Gypsy trash, blood-traitors and Muggles, I see." His gaze flickered at the Petrovs, Romanovs, Weasleys, and Rosenbergs.

Sirius lost his temper at that point and attacked him. The two knocked into Leah, causing her to drop her cauldron and its contents to spill on the ground. Ana shrieked, "Sirius Black! Stop brawling at once!", but no heed was taken to her. Hagrid had to wade in and separate the two. Mr. Malfoy lost his balance and fell in the process. He floundered a bit in the fallen books, then thrust a couple aside and stood up. With a snarl on his face, he strode out of the shop, gesturing for his son to follow him.

Once Sirius had calmed down, he apologized to Leah for knocking into her and helped her pick up the scattered belongings and pile them in her cauldron. Snape, who had been at the other side of the shop helping Jonas and Esther pick out some books for background reading, came over and demanded to know what had happened. After everything had been explained, he shook his head in disgust. "Black, you really need to control your temper. That's what got you in Azkaban in the first place. Though Lucius shouldn't have provoked you like that."

Sirius was about to retort, but Mrs. Rosenberg spoke first. "Before my late husband died, he told me the names of people he knew or suspected of being Death Eaters or supporters of Voldy-something or other. Lucius Malfoy was one of the names he listed. So why is he still around and not in prison?"

"He claimed to have been bewitched into doing the Dark Lord's bidding," responded Snape. "And as he is from a prominent family and gave the Ministry of Magic a large donation, he was believed."

"I see." Mrs. Rosenberg's lips thinned. "My husband didn't get killed fighting Death Eaters just so things like this could happen." Seeing some puzzled looks, she explained, "I am a Muggle, but my husband wasn't. He was a Muggleborn wizard. We were childhood friends, and fell in love and got married years later. He told me about the wizarding world and how our children would most likely be magical. Unfortunately, he was killed in a battle against some Death Eaters about a week before the Dark Lord's downfall. And about two weeks after Esther was born."

"So Daniel Rosenberg was your husband!" exclaimed Uncle Tobias. "And that's why you looked so familiar. I was the one that had to give you the terrible news about Dan."

Mrs. Rosenberg nodded. "I was too distraught at the time to say so, but thank you for being the one to tell me, Mr. Romanov. Not everyone would have been as sensitive and understanding as you were." She straightened and turned to Snape, whispering something to him.

Not long after that, the books were all paid for and everyone left. Snape, the Rosenbergs, and the Grangers went out through the Leaky Cauldron, while everyone else Flooed to their respective homes.


	20. A Train Ride Back to Hogwarts

September the first arrived and it was time to leave for Hogwarts. As with previous years, at ten o'clock the Romanovs and Petrovs all Flooed over to the apothecary and then went out through the Leaky Cauldron, where they took cabs to King's Cross Station. The Gryffindor quintet (minus Ron) along with David and Luna found an empty compartment at the end of the Hogwarts Express and settled in it after bidding their parents good-bye. Adam and Leah Rosenberg joined them a minute later, and just as the train was pulling out of the platform, Ron and Ginny showed up, out-of-breath.

"We were running behind," gasped Ginny. "Fred forgot his broom and George forgot his fireworks, so Dad had to drive back so they could get their stuff."

"And Pig kept making a racket," added Ron with a grimace. "Bloody annoying." While he had been happy to finally get an owl, as Sirius had insisted on giving him a pet to make up for Scabbers who had turned out to be Peter Pettigrew, the owl was quite excitable. It didn't help matters that Ginny had named it Pigwidgeon before Ron could come up with a name, and as it now only answered to that, Ron had taken to calling it Pig for short.

Beth and Alex ignored Ron's grumbling, since they knew he wasn't really serious about it. Back when he was six, he had a pet Puffskein that he had sometimes complained about, but had been quite upset when his twin brothers had used it for Bludger practice and so smashed it. He had also complained about Scabbers, but had been worried when the rat was behaving oddly until it turned out that he was really Wormtail. Instead, Beth changed the subject to ask Adam and Leah, "What house do you want to be Sorted in?"

"Ravenclaw," answered Leah promptly. "That was the house our father was in, and Adam and I would fit well there. Not that we're not brave enough for Gryffindor or hard-working enough for Hufflepuff, of course. It's just that we're both bookworms, and treasure knowledge and learning."

"Mum says we inherited our brains from both sides of the family," added Adam. "She's a chemistry teacher at the local comprehensive in our town, by the way."

At that, Alex began wondering if the younger five would end up becoming the 'Ravenclaw quintet'. After all, Luna also wanted to be Ravenclaw, partly because her mother had been in that house. Despite her oddness, she was quite wise, and would fit well in Ravenclaw. David had said that he would like being in either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, and could fit well in either house. As for Ginny, she had expressed a wish to be in Gryffindor like the rest of the family, but didn't mind being in Ravenclaw, and could very well ask to be Sorted there so she could be with her friends. It didn't hurt that she was quite intelligent and skilled, and enjoyed reading, though she wasn't quite as passionate about it as Hermione and Beth were.

Hermione and Neville then asked the Rosenberg twins more about their family. Their father had been an Auror, and Esther looked like a younger and feminine version of him, except that she had their mother's sapphire eyes and nose. Adam, on the other hand, took after their mother, except for the fact that he had their father's emerald eyes and hooked nose, which looked somewhat like Professor Snape's nose. Leah, of course, was in the middle, her hair and eye color being a mix of both parents. Her hair, when not done in her usual plait, was wavy, a mix between their father's curliness and their mother's straightness.

Like Beth, Alex, and their cousins, Adam and Leah also had grandparents that survived the Holocaust. Their paternal grandparents had both survived the concentration camps. Their maternal grandfather was a Gentile that had pretended to be a Nazi-sympathizer and used his job as an orderly for a Nazi official in order to gather information for the French Resistance, and he had fallen in love with the daughter of a Jewish family that his family had been hiding. The two had gotten married a few years after the war ended, with him converting to Judaism, and moved to Britain.

At this point the witch with the food trolley came by and they all went out into the corridor to buy some snacks. While Adam and Leah knew about some wizarding sweets like Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, as their father had told their mother about them, others they weren't familiar with. The others proceeded to explain the unfamiliar ones and the ten of them enjoyed the food.

After awhile, the five first-years moved to one side of the compartment and had their own conversation. Leah and Adam were actually quite knowledgeable about the wizarding world, since their mother had told them and Esther about it two years ago and they had read their father's old books. There was only one thing that they were really curious about, and that was the whereabouts of Harry Potter. David stayed silent on that subject, for while he could keep secrets, he wasn't that good at lying. Ginny, on the other hand, simply said, "Well, the wizarding world hasn't any idea as to where he is, and I don't think they'll find out anytime soon. I think he's safe, though, and he'll reveal himself when he's ready."

"I think Harry Potter was taken by Father Christmas's house-elves and is in training to become the next Father Christmas," declared Luna. Alex had to stifle laughter at hearing this, since that had been one of the several theories she had about Harry Potter's whereabouts before learning the truth.

"Luna, you know Father Christmas isn't real," said Ginny, sounding exasperated. "And you know Harry's Muggle relatives said that they didn't want him and left him on the steps of a church in a random town, where a woman saw them and said that she'd adopt him if they didn't want him."

"Then that would mean Harry Potter would be under a different name, and he could be registered as a Muggleborn student!" exclaimed Adam. "So why didn't the Ministry question the Muggleborn boys?"

"They did," replied Beth. "Aunt Maria said that someone from the Ministry went to the three boys in our year that were supposed to be Muggleborn and questioned them and their parents. None of them were adopted and they didn't have the lightning scar or match what Harry is supposed to look like, which is black-haired with green eyes. Dean Thomas, who's in Gryffindor with us, is black, and as for the other two, one has brown hair while the other is a dark blond."

"Then maybe Harry Potter's relatives lied about what happened?" asked Leah.

"They were questioned under Veritserum," responded Neville. "That's the strongest Truth Potion in existence. However, they don't remember the town, or what the woman looked like, except that she was probably bundled up, since it was the middle of November and quite cold out."

"Oh," said Leah, looking disappointed. "I wish Harry could be found. He sounds very interesting and I would love to get to know someone famous and see what they're like underneath all the fame."

The Gryffindor quintet exchanged looks. While Adam and Leah were trustworthy, Alex wasn't about to reveal his secret to every trustworthy person he met. He supposed he might change his mind later, if the two became close friends to him like Ginny, Luna, and David were, or the five formed another quintet that was as close as the Gryffindor quintet, but for now he was staying silent.

David immediately changed the subject to ask how the Rosenbergs practiced Judaism compared to Aunt Sarah's family. The twins answered, and then the five first-years talked exclusively between themselves. Hermione began reading one of the Lockhart books, Alex and Ron started a chess match, Neville took out his Herbology journal and leafed through it, and Beth started rereading _Anne of Windy Poplars_, her favorite book in the _Anne of Green Gables_ series, because there was a character named Elizabeth in it. After she had first read the book, she had done what the character did and felt like a different version of her name every day for a year before deciding to just go with 'Beth' like the character in _Little Women_.

The afternoon passed and the Hogwarts Express arrived at the station. The first-years headed to where Hagrid was calling them, in order to cross the lake in boats to reach the castle. The other students headed for the carriages, where Neville stopped and asked, "What are those winged creatures pulling the carriages?"

"What are you talking about?" replied Alex. "There's nothing there, Neville. Unless you mean the invisible horses that Vera thinks are pulling the carriages."

"But I can see them!" protested Neville. "They've got leathery wings and look sort of like large horses except skeletal and-"

"Oh, that's a thestral," interrupted Beth. "They're a type of winged horse, and only those that have seen someone die can see them. I read all about them. I believe you can see them because you saw your grandfather die, Neville. If Luna were here, she'd see them too, since she saw her mother die."

"Oh," said Neville in understanding. The Gryffindor quintet then got in a carriage, not saying anything more .

When they arrived at the castle, everyone got out and went inside to the Great Hall. After the students were all settled in, Professor McGonagall brought in the first-years. The Sorting Hat started singing a new song about the four houses and their qualities. When it finished, everyone clapped and then McGonagall started calling the first-years one-by-one alphabetically to be Sorted. Atkins, Eric was Sorted into Hufflepuff, Baddock, Louise was in Slytherin, and Bollings, Agatha and Carson, Barry in Ravenclaw. Creevy, Colin, a rather mousy and excited-looking boy clutching a camera, was Sorted into Gryffindor.

Several names later, Luna was called up. She calmly drifted over to the stool and sat down, serenely placing the Sorting Hat on her head. After almost an entire minute, it declared her to be in Ravenclaw. With a small smile on her face, she set the Hat back on the stool and took a seat at the Ravenclaw table. A few more names later, David's name was called. He looked nervous as he sat down on the stool and placed the Hat on his head. Alex could see David's lips moving, as if he was having silent conversation with the Hat. After a minute, it shouted, "RAVENCLAW!" With a huge grin on his face, David removed it and then ran to the Ravenclaw table, where he took a seat next to Luna.

Adam Rosenberg was next to be called. The Hat was on his head for no more than five seconds before declaring him a Ravenclaw also. The same happened for his twin Leah, and the two walked over to the Ravenclaw table together and took seats on Luna's other side. The last name to be called was Ginny's. She appeared to be having a silent argument with the Sorting Hat before it finally shouted, "RAVENCLAW!" The Ravenclaw table burst into applause as Ginny took a seat next to David, while a number of other students and most of the teachers looked rather surprised that a Weasley was in Ravenclaw and not Gryffindor. Percy, Fred, and George looked rather stunned at the fact. Ron wasn't, but that was simply because he knew his sister well enough to know that she wanted to be in the same house as her friends. Besides, why shouldn't the first Weasley female born in seven generations also be the first Weasley to get Sorted into a house other than Gryffindor?

Professor Dumbledore then stood up and welcomed everyone. After that, the feast appeared and everyone started eating. When Percy wondered out loud why Ginny was in Ravenclaw, George, who had recovered from his shock, responded, "How thick are you, Perce? It's obvious that she wanted to be in the same house as her friends."

Fred added, "We almost did the same thing. We asked the Sorting Hat if it would put us in Slytherin so we could be with Ivan, but it said it we were better suited for Gryffindor, though our loyalty to our friend also made us suited for Hufflepuff."

"We decided not to argue against the Hat," finished George, "especially when we knew that being in separate houses wouldn't hurt our friendship any. Ivan's not evil, and never will be, even if he is in a house that produces lots of Dark wizards and witches."

When the feast was over, Professor Dumbledore stood up to make his announcements. Gilderoy Lockhart was introduced as the new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher. A number of the girls looked delighted, quite clearly having something of a crush on him. Quidditch tryouts would start next week, the Forbidden Forest was still forbidden, magic was not allowed in the corridors, and Filch's list of banned items had lengthened. After that was the singing of the school song and then everyone went up to their respective common rooms.

In the dorm room, Alex said hi to Dean and Seamus and asked how their summers were before he changed into his pyjamas, brushed his teeth, and went to bed.


	21. A Disastrious First Day

Chapter summary: Alex/Harry deals with the first week of his second year.

Alex woke up the next morning, showered, brushed his teeth, got dressed, and went downstairs to breakfast. Beth and Hermione were already there, the former looking over her schedule as she ate and the latter reading _Wanderings with Werewolves_. Alex made a face at the book, since he knew everything there was to know about werewolves from Remus and therefore had spotted a few inconsistencies in it.

"Good morning, Alex," said Beth cheerfully, looking up from her schedule. "Here's your timetable." She handed him a sheet of parchment with his name on it.

"Good morning, and thanks, Beth," Alex replied. "Good morning, Hermione." Hermione didn't even look up from her book as she responded, but he ignored that. He sat down, grabbed some toast and jam, and filled his bowl with some oatmeal. As he started eating, he looked through his timetable. Herbology was first, which would make Neville happy. After that was Transfiguration, with Defense Against Dark Arts in the afternoon, and Alex groaned at the thought of having to face Lockhart.

Ron and Neville showed up at this point. After bidding the girls 'good morning', they grabbed some food and looked through their timetables. A few minutes later, Jonas and Ginny stopped by the Gryffindor table and said hello before continuing to the Ravenclaw table. Both had slight frowns on their faces, which Alex found strange. Luna also stopped to say hello, with Adam and Leah looking very upset about something behind her.

When the Ravenclaw quintet had all sat down, Alex looked over at the Ravenclaw table. He was startled to see the other first-years giving Luna rather nasty looks or smirking unpleasantly. All right, she might not exactly fit most people's definition of normal, but she was a nice person and an extremely loyal friend. It didn't matter to him or anyone else he was close to if Luna believed everything her father printed in _The Quibbler_ and had been acting a bit stranger since her mother's unfortunate death two years ago.

"What's going on with the Ravenclaws?" asked Neville. "Some of them are giving Luna nasty looks, and her friends are glaring back at them."

"I don't know," answered Alex. "Maybe they're having difficultly adjusting to Luna's uniqueness?"

"I'll ask Jonas about it later," said Beth with a slight frown. "I hope-"

She broke off as Leah jumped to her feet and snapped, "Shut tha' mouth, Agatha Bollings! I thought we told thee earlier t' leave Luna alone!"

"And we told you to stop calling her 'Loony'!" added Ginny angrily. "Luna's a perfectly nice girl and a great friend!"

"Oh dear," said Hermione softly. "I take it that the other first-year Ravenclaws aren't accepting of Luna's oddness and are teasing her."

Alex flinched, recalling Hermione mentioning once that she had been teased back when she had been in primary school.

Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick appeared to ask what was going on. "We weren't doing anything," said Agatha at once. "They just yelled at me for no-"

"'Nowt o' th' sort!" interrupted Adam angrily, speaking in the same Yorkshire accent as his twin. "'Tis th' other first-years! They're makin' fun o' Luna an' callin' her names." He paused to take a deep breath, and in a calmer tone without the accent, continued, "I guess Luna Lovegood might come across as a bit weird and her father's magazine isn't taken seriously by most people. But she's nice and a wonderful friend and doesn't deserve to be made fun of."

"There will be no teasing of other students, Miss Bolling," said Professor Flitwick sternly. "I will not have it in my house. Is that clear, everyone? Now, I want Miss Lovegood to be left alone if you cannot accept her differences and be her friend. And while it is admirable that you wish to stand up for a friend, I would like no more outbursts during mealtimes, Mr. and Miss Rosenberg. You too, Miss Weasley. If this happens again, I will be forced to take points away or assign detentions."

Leah and Adam sat down, glaring at Agatha and another boy that Alex remembered from the Sorting as being named Barry Carson. Vera got up from her seat, a frown on her face, and walked over to Agatha. The Gryffindor quintet couldn't hear what was being said, but it looked like the first-year was getting a further lecture. Fred, George, Lee, and Ivan started having a whispered conversation of their own as well, shooting devious looks at the Ravenclaw table.

"What are they up to?" hissed Hermione.

Ron and Neville shrugged in reply, but Beth responded, "I think I know. When the other Slytherins were bothering Ivan because of being a _Roma_, Fred and George found out and started pranking them in order to get back at them. After a dozen or so pranks and a couple of detentions from Professor Snape, the other Slytherins stopped and just ignored Ivan instead. Since certain Ravenclaws are making fun of Luna, those four are probably plotting a few pranks as revenge. It'd serve those close-minded idiots right, and none of the pranks would be anything truly harmful."

Hermione looked disapproving, but didn't say anything, for she knew she couldn't talk the four out of it, and anyway, a part of her did feel that the Ravenclaws that weren't Luna's friends should get some payback for making fun of her. She simply sighed and resumed eating her breakfast.

After breakfast, the first-year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs headed for Herbology, where Professor Sprout informed them that they would be in Greenhouse Three today. This caught their interest right away, since they had only been in Greenhouse One before, which didn't have all the interesting or more dangerous plants that Greenhouse Three did. Once inside, they were told that they would be repotting with mandrakes. Neville and Hermione answered the two questions that Professor Sprout asked, winning ten points each for Gryffindor. Since the mandrakes were currently only babies, their cry would not kill like the mature ones, but it would knock you out for a few hours, so you still had to wear earmuffs when repotting them.

The class was told to split up into groups of four to work. Beth and Hermione went off to work with Parvati and Lavender, while Alex, Ron, and Neville were joined by a Hufflepuff who introduced himself as Justin Finch-Fletchey. He congratulated them on stopping Quirrell last school term, and went on to comment that Lockhart was amazing, based on the stuff he had done in his books. Justin added that his name had been down for Eton, (which meant he was Muggleborn), but was happier to be at Hogwarts instead. "Mother was a bit disappointed, of course," he said, "but after I made her read Lockhart's books she decided that having a wizard in the family would be useful."

Ron nodded, while Neville whispered, "What's Eton?"

"It's a Muggle public school* for boys," Alex whispered back. "A really good one. If you attend, you're usually either from a rich family or got an academic scholarship."

There was no more talk after that, for they all had to put on the earmuffs and start repotting the mandrakes. It wasn't as easy as Professor Sprout made it look, and Neville was the only one that had little difficulty, since Herbology was his forte, after all. Alex made faces all throughout the repotting, wishing that he had his friend's skill.

When class ended, everyone went back inside to quickly wash up and then headed for their next class. The Gryffindors had Transfiguration and the lesson was on turning beetles into buttons. Hermione and Beth were able to turn their beetles into buttons very quickly, and by the time class ended, had produced a handful of perfect coat buttons each. After numerous tries, Alex managed to turn his beetle into a button, but it was the same color as the beetle. Neville had managed to produce something that was like a button, except it was still shaped like a beetle. As for Ron, he was able to turn his beetle into a button, except that it still had antennae.

After Transfiguration was lunch. Hermione read another one of Lockhart's books as she ate, which Alex found rather pointless. He had flipped through them once, and put them down in disgust. The books came across more like stories than actual nonfiction, for one thing, and didn't go into any detail about any of the spells that Lockhart had supposedly used to fight ghouls and vampires and other dark creatures or beings. Unfortunately, Hermione didn't take the same view that he did, and only conceded that _Wanderings with Werewolves_ might have some errors, because of Remus being a werewolf.

Defense Against Dark Arts did not turn out to be a good class. When the whole class was seated, Lockhart cleared his throat loudly and silence fell. He reached forward, picked up Neville's copy of _Travels with Trolls_, and held it up to show his own, winking portrait on the front.

"Me," he said, pointing at it and winking as well. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award but I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!"

He waited for them to laugh; a few people smiled weakly. "I see you've all bought a complete set of my books — well done. I thought we'd start today with a little quiz. Nothing to worry about — just to check how well you've read them, how much you've taken in —"

When he had handed out the test papers he returned to the front of the class and said, "You have thirty minutes — start —now!"

Alex looked down at his paper and read:

_1. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?_

_2. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?_

_3. What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?_

On and on it went, over three sides of paper, right down to:

_54. When is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday, and what would his ideal gift be?_

_Is he serious?_ Alex thought in utter disgust. He picked up his quill, wrote down "To really do all the stuff in his books and have it all be completely accurate," for question two and 'Being able to walk and breathe at the same time," for question three. The rest of the questions he left blank, except for the last one, which he wrote, "What does all this useless information about yourself have to do with Defense?"

Half an hour later, Lockhart collected the papers and rifled through them in front of the class. "Tut, tut — hardly any of you remembered that my favorite color is lilac. I say so in _Year with the Yeti_. And a few of you need to read _Wanderings with Werewolves_ more carefully — I clearly state in chapter twelve that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples — though I wouldn't say no to a large bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhisky!"

He gave them another roguish wink. Ron was now staring at Lockhart with an expression of disbelief on his face; Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, who were sitting in front, were shaking with silent laughter. Hermione, on the other hand, was listening to Lockhart with rapt attention and gave a start when he mentioned her name.

"… but Miss Hermione Granger knew my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil and market my own range of hair-care potions — good girl! In fact" — he flipped her paper over — "full marks! Where is Miss Hermione Granger?"

Hermione raised a trembling hand.

"Excellent!" beamed Lockhart. "Quite excellent! Take ten points for Gryffindor! And so — to business —"

He bent down behind his desk and lifted a large, covered cage onto it.

"Now — be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind! You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. All I ask is that you remain calm."

In spite of himself, Alex leaned around his pile of books for a better look at the cage. Lockhart placed a hand on the cover. Dean and Seamus had stopped laughing now. Neville was cowering in his front row seat.

"I must ask you not to scream," said Lockhart in a low voice. "It might provoke them."

As the whole class held its breath, Lockhart whipped off the cover. "Yes," he said dramatically. "Freshly caught Cornish pixies."

Seamus Finnigan couldn't control himself. He let out a snort of laughter that even Lockhart couldn't mistake for a scream of terror.

"Yes?" He smiled at Seamus.

"Well, they're not — they're not very —dangerous, are they?" Seamus choked.

"Don't be so sure!" said Lockhart, waggling a finger annoyingly at Seamus. "Devilish tricky little blighters they can be!"

The pixies were electric blue and about eight inches high, with pointed faces and voices so shrill it was like listening to a lot of budgies arguing. The moment the cover had been removed, they had started jabbering and rocketing around, rattling the bars and making bizarre faces at the people nearest them.

"Right, then," Lockhart said loudly. "Let's see what you make of them!" And he opened the cage.

It was pandemonium. The pixies shot in every direction like rockets. Two of them seized Neville by the ears and lifted him into the air. Several shot straight through the window, showering the back row with broken glass. The rest proceeded to wreck the classroom more effectively than a rampaging rhino. They grabbed ink bottles and sprayed the class with them, shredded books and papers, tore pictures from the walls, up-ended the waste basket, grabbed bags and books and threw them out of the smashed window; within minutes, half the class was sheltering under desks and Neville was swinging from the iron chandelier in the ceiling.

"Come on now — round them up, round them up, they're only pixies," Lockhart shouted. He rolled up his sleeves, brandished his wand, and bellowed, "_Peskipiksi Pesternomi_!"

It had absolutely no effect; one of the pixies seized his wand and threw it out of the window, too. Lockhart gulped and dived under his own desk, narrowly avoiding being squashed by Neville, who was gently levitated down by Beth, frowning deep in concentration.

The bell rang and there was a mad rush toward the exit. In the relative calm that followed, Lockhart straightened up, caught sight of the Gryffindor quintet, who were almost at the door, and said, "Well, I'll ask you five to just nip the rest of them back into their cage." He swept past them and shut the door quickly behind him.

"Can you believe him?" roared Ron as one of the remaining pixies bit him painfully on the ear.

"He just wants to give us some hands-on experience," said Hermione, immobilizing two pixies at once with a clever Freezing Charm and stuffing them back into their cage.

"Hands on?" said Alex, who was trying to grab a pixie dancing out of reach with its tongue out. "Hermione, he didn't have a clue what he was doing —"

"Rubbish," said Hermione. "You've read his books — look at all those amazing things he's done —"

"He says he's done," Ron muttered.

"But-" protested Hermione.

"If there are errors in _Wanderings with Werewolves_, then there probably errors in his other books as well," pointed out Beth, doing a mass Freezing Charm on all the pixies.

As they proceeded to stuff all the frozen pixies back into the cage, Neville added, "Hermione, what does knowing Lockhart's favorite color and ideal birthday gift and all that other stuff about him have to do with Defense Against Dark Arts?"

Hermione opened her mouth to reply, then shut it as she realized that she had no good answer. When they were done with the pixies and left the classroom, she had a thoughtful look on her face.

* I am using the British meaning of 'public school', which in America would be known as a 'private school'. In Britain, public schools were called that since they were open to the public as long as you could pay the fees or obtained a scholarship.


	22. A New Seeker

Author's Note: Sorry about how long it has been since I updated this. I was busy with work, and when I wasn't, I was either on Facebook playing games or going on TV Tropes and couldn't find the interest in writing. I guess TVtropes really does ruin your life.

Chapter Summary: Alex/Harry attends the Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts.

Friday morning at breakfast, Oliver Wood stopped Alex and said, "I'm holding Seeker tryouts today at five, Alex. I'd automatically make you full Seeker, but McClaggen would throw a fit, so that's why there's tryouts."

"Okay, Oliver, I'll be there," replied Alex. Something then occured to him and he asked, "Could my sister Beth attend too? She's pretty decent as Seeker and would make a good reserve. And she definitely would make a great reserve Chaser. Our Aunt Maria was a Chaser for the Hufflepuff team and has coached Beth in it."

"Well, we could use a reserve Chaser, since we don't have any at the moment," said Wood thoughtfully. "And I'd much rather have your sister as a reserve Seeker than have McClaggen in the spot. All right, she can attend tryouts as well and we'll see how good she is."

After he had walked away, Alex told Beth, who looked delighted at the prospect of joining the Gryffindor Quidditch team, even if it was only as a reserve. That evening at five, after a quick and light dinner, they walked out to the Quidditch pitch with their Nimbus Two Thousand Ones. The entire team joined them, Cormac McClaggen looking rather sour over the whole thing. "I was Seeker last year, so why do I need to try out again?" he grumbled.

"Alex Romanov was better than you last year," pointed out Wood sternly. "The only reason he was a reserve was because he was a first year. Now he's not, so we're having tryouts to see if he's still better than you." He released the Snitch and then Alex and Cormac took off.

The former spotted the Snitch first and went streaking after it. The latter spotted him and followed, but Alex caught it, partly because of his broom and partly because he was a natural flier. This happened twice more, with Alex catching the Snitch both times.

With a very satisfied look on his face, Wood proclaimed, "Alex, you're the Seeker. You're still definitely better than McClaggen." Before Cormac could make a protest, Wood continued, "Beth, you're going to fly against McClaggen to see which one of you is going to be the reserve Seeker."

"What?" sputtered Cormac. "If I can't be the full Seeker, then I should automatically become the reserve! And I thought she was only trying out for reserve Chaser!"

"She's also trying out for reserve Seeker since Alex said that she's pretty decent at it," responded Wood. "Fred and George said that she plays Seeker whenever she and her brother play on opposing teams, and is the only person besides their brother Charlie to ever beat Alex to the Snitch."

"That's not fair! I was the Seeker last year and should still be it or at least be a reserve!"

"I don't care," snapped Wood. "You are going to try out against Beth Romanov or you can leave now and not even have a chance at becoming reserve, McClaggen."

Cormac shut his mouth with a snap and angrily remounted his broom. Wood released the Snitch again and Beth and Cormac took off. Beth caught the Snitch all three times, partly due to her faster broom and partly because she was smaller and spotted the Snitch first. A very irate Cormac threw his broom on the ground when Wood announced that she would be reserve Seeker. He then picked it up and stalked off in a fit of anger, saying that he was going to McGonagall about this. The others shook their heads in disgust, or in the case of Fred and George, smirked. They knew perfectly well that their Head of House would have no sympathy with Cormac in this case, for he despite being a good flier, he wasn't that great at being Seeker, and his personality was rather unpleasant, to say the least.

After he was gone, Beth took off with the Chasers, while Wood took his spot at the goalposts. Beth flew excellently, was quite good at passing the Quaffle, and actually managed to get past Wood and score twice. He looked very impressed when he finally called a halt, and said, "You are definitely reserve Chaser in addition to being reserve Seeker. Since you're a reserve, you don't have to come to all the practices, but I would like you to show up to at least one practice a week, Beth."

The next morning, Alex was woken up at an 'ungodly hour', as his cousin Cara would put it, by Wood. "Whassamatter?" asked Alex groggily.

"Quidditch practice!" said Wood. "Come on!"

Alex squinted at the window. There was a thin mist hanging across the pink-and-gold sky. Now that he was awake, he couldn't understand how he could have slept through the racket the birds were making.

"Oliver," Alex croaked. "It's the crack of dawn."

"Exactly," said Wood, his eyes were gleaming with a crazed enthusiasm. "It's part of our new training program. You're now a full member, and your sister is an excellent reserve, so we need to train you guys. Come on, grab your broom, and let's go," said Wood heartily. "None of the other teams have started training yet; we're going to be first off the mark this year —"

Yawning and shivering slightly, Alex climbed out of bed and tried to find his Quidditch robes.

"Good man," said Wood. "Meet you on the field in fifteen minutes."

When he'd found his scarlet team robes and pulled on his cloak for warmth, Alex scribbled a note to Ron and Neville explaining where he'd gone and went down the spiral staircase to the common room, his Nimbus Two Thousand One on his shoulder. He went out the portrait hole and made his way out of the castle and towards the changing rooms next to the Quidditch field, running to Beth along the way.

"Wood insisted that I be at practice," she explained. "Or rather, he had Alicia tell me that, since boys can't exactly enter the girls' rooms. It's a good thing I'm a morning person, or I'd be very annoyed at him right now. As it is, I'm mildly annoyed, since I do like to sleep in a bit on the weekends."

When they entered the changing room, they saw that the rest of the Gryffindor team were already there. Wood was the only person who looked truly awake. Fred and George Weasley were sitting, puffy-eyed and tousle haired, next to fourth year Alicia Spinnet, who seemed to be nodding off against the wall behind her. Her fellow Chasers, Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson, were yawning side by side opposite them.

"There you are, Alex and Beth, what kept you?" said Wood briskly. "Now, I wanted a quick talk with you all before we actually get onto the field, because I spent the summer devising a whole new training program, which I really think will make all the difference…"

Wood was holding up a large diagram of a Quidditch field, on which were drawn many lines, arrows, and crosses in different colored inks. He took out his wand, tapped the board, and the arrows began to wiggle over the diagram like caterpillars. As Wood launched into a speech about his new tactics, Fred's head drooped right onto Alicia's shoulder and he began to snore.

The first board took nearly twenty minutes to explain, but there was another board under that, and a third under that one. Alex sank into a stupor as Wood droned on and on.

"So," said Wood, at long last, jerking Alex from a wistful fantasy about what he could be eating for breakfast at this very moment up at the castle. "Is that clear? Any questions?"

"I've got a question, Oliver," said George, who had woken with a start. "Why couldn't you have told us all this yesterday at tryouts when we were awake?"

Wood wasn't pleased. "Now, listen here, you lot," he said, glowering at them all. "We should have won the Quidditch cup last year. We're easily the best team. But unfortunately — owing to circumstances beyond our control and a less than stellar Seeker—"

Alex shifted guiltily in his seat. He had been unconscious in the hospital wing for the final match of the previous year, meaning that Gryffindor had been stuck with using McClaggen and had suffered one of their worst defeat in three hundred years. If Alex had been fit, he had a strong suspicion that Professor McGonagall would have given McClaggen a detention during the match as she had done for the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match, meaning that Alex would have to play instead.

Wood took a moment to regain control of himself. Their last defeat was clearly still torturing him. "So this year, we train harder than ever before… Okay, let's go and put our new theories into practice!" Wood shouted, seizing his broomstick and leading the way out of the locker rooms. Stiff-legged and still yawning, his team followed.

They had been in the locker room so long that the sun was up completely now, although remnants of mist hung over the grass in the stadium. As Alex walked onto the field, he saw Ron, Neville, and Hermione sitting in the stands.

"Aren't you finished yet?" called Ron incredulously.

"Haven't even started," responded Alex, looking jealously at the toast and marmalade his friends had brought out of the Great Hall. "Wood's been teaching us new moves."

He mounted his broomstick and kicked at the ground, soaring up into the air. The cool morning air whipped his face, waking him far more effectively than Wood's long talk. It felt wonderful to be back on the Quidditch field. He soared right around the stadium at full speed, racing Fred and George. A few minutes later, Wood went to let loose the Quidditch balls when he stopped suddenly. "I booked the pitch for this morning!" he snapped furiously. "What are the Slytherins doing here?"

Wood shot toward the ground, landing rather harder than he meant to in his anger, staggering slightly as he dismounted. Alex, Fred, and George followed.

"Flint!" Wood bellowed at the Slytherin Captain. "This is our practice time! We got up specially! You can clear off now!"

Marcus Flint was even larger than Wood. He had a look of trollish cunning on his face as he replied, "Plenty of room for all of us, Wood."

Beth, Angelina, Alicia, and Katie had come over, too. There were no girls on the Slytherin team, who stood shoulder to shoulder, facing the Gryffindors, leering to a man.

"But I booked the field!" said Wood, positively spitting with rage. "I booked it!"

"Ah," said Flint. "But I've got a specially signed note here from Professor Snape. 'I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch field owing to the need to train their new Seeker'. "

"You've got a new Seeker?" said Wood, distracted. "Where?"

And from behind the six large figures before them came a seventh, smaller boy, smirking all over his pale, pointed face. It was Draco Malfoy.

"Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's son?" said Fred, looking at Malfoy with dislike.

"Funny you should mention Draco's father," said Flint as the whole Slytherin team smiled still more broadly. "Let me show you the generous gift he's made to the Slytherin team."

All seven of them held out their broomsticks. Seven highly polished, brand-new handles and seven sets of fine gold lettering spelling the words _Nimbus Two Thousand and One_ gleamed under the Gryffindors' noses in the early morning sun.

"Very latest model. Only came out last month," said Flint carelessly, flicking a speck of dust from the end of his own. "I believe it outstrips the old Two Thousand series by a considerable amount. As for the old Cleansweeps" — he smiled nastily at Fred and George, who were both clutching Cleansweep Fives —" sweeps the board with them."

None of the Gryffindor team could think of anything to say for a moment. Malfoy was smirking so broadly his cold eyes were reduced to slits.

"Oh, look," said Flint. "A field invasion."

Ron, Hermione, and Neville were crossing the grass to see what was going on. Behind them was the Ravenclaw quintet

"What's happening?" Ron asked Alex. "Why aren't you playing? And what's he doing here?" He was looking at Malfoy, taking in his Slytherin Quidditch robes.

"I'm the new Slytherin Seeker, Weasley," said Malfoy, smugly. "Everyone's just been admiring the brooms my father's bought our team."

Ron gaped, open-mouthed, at the seven superb broomsticks in front of him.

"Good, aren't they?" said Malfoy smoothly. "But perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms, too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives; I expect a museum would bid for them."

The Slytherin team howled with laughter.

"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in," said Hermione sharply. "They got in on pure talent."

The smug look on Malfoy's face flickered. "No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood," he spat.

There was an instant uproar at his words. Flint had to dive in front of Malfoy to stop Fred and George jumping on him, Beth and Alex both snapped, "You horrible _Gajo_!", Alicia shrieked, "How dare you!" and Ron plunged his hand into his robes, pulled out his wand, yelling, "You'll pay for that one, Malfoy!" and pointed it furiously under Flint's arm at Malfoy's face.

A loud bang echoed around the stadium and a jet of green light shot out of the end of Ron's wand, hitting Malfoy in the stomach and sending him reeling backward onto the grass. The Gryffindor team plus Ron, Neville, and Ginny burst into laughter as Malfoy sat up, gave a loud belch, and dribbled several slugs out of his mouth and into his lap. The rest of the Slytherin team stepped away from him and faced the Gryffindors threatingly, but before they could retaliate, Luna stepped forward and exclaimed, "Oh look, there's Professor Sprout!"

Everyone, except Malfoy, gave a start of surprise and hastily disbanded to avoid trouble from a teacher. By the time they realized that Professor Sprout nor another teacher was present, it was too late to do much of anything. One of the Slytherin beaters, doing his best to avoid touching more than a sleeve, was escorting Malfoy to the Hospital Wing, while the rest of the team started practice. The Gryffindor team scattered to change out of their team robes and put their brooms away. The Ravenclaw quintet headed off to meet Hagrid, with Ginny and David explaining to Leah and Adam what 'Mudblood' meant. Ron, Neville, and Hermione met up with Alex and Beth when they were done changing and headed off to Hagrid's as well.

Hagrid was quite happy to see them, but he still looked a bit outraged over Hermione being called the 'm' word, since the Ravenclaw quintet had told him about the confrontation with the Slytherin team. "It's all right Hagrid," said Hermione. "Malfoy got taught a lesson, though you really didn't need to defend my honor, Ron. I'm quite capable of defending myself. But thank you for it."

Ron turned pink again, and hastily tried to hide his face by taking a sip of the tea that they'd been served. When they were all done with their tea, Hagrid took them outside to see the pumpkins he was growing for the Halloween feast. Each one was the size of a large boulder, and after checking to make sure they were alone, he admitted that he had been giving the pumpkins a bit of help.

"An Engorgement Charm, I suppose?" said Hermione, halfway between disapproval and amusement. "Well, you've done a good job on them."

"Thanks," replied Hagrid with a grin. After a few minutes, the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw quintets headed back for the castle. Alex was especially keen to go, as it was nearly lunchtime and all he had eaten since dawn was a bit of treacle fudge and a mug of tea.

They had barely set foot in the cool entrance hall when a voice rang out, "There you are, Mr. Weasley, Miss Romanov, and Mr. Romanov." Professor Snape strode over to them, looking furious. "Mr. Malfoy told me something interesting an hour ago."

Nobody said anything as he stopped in front of them. "I was informed that you, Mr. and Miss Romanov, called him the term that the _Rom_ use for someone that is non-_Romany_. And you, Mr. Weasley, cursed Mr. Malfoy so that he was vomiting slugs."

"Did Malfoy tell you why that happened, Professor Snape?" demanded Leah. "He called Hermione the 'm' word, and they got mad and retaliated."

"Are you referring to the derogatory word for Muggleborns?" asked Professor Snape, his expression changing to one of shock. When the ten nodded, his expression turned angry again. "I will have some words with Mr, Malfoy and see that he is suitably punished. As for you Mr. Weasley, I will not give you detention as planned, but I will have to take ten points from Gryffindor, as you still shouldn't be cursing other students, even if you were standing up for a friend. You all may go."

He strode off, his robes billowing behind him, and the ten students went to the Great Hall for lunch.


	23. A Gift and a Petrification

Author's Note: I am really, really, really sorry that I haven't updated this fic in ages. I lost interest in it as I was focusing on my fic _Nightwind School of Magic_, and was debating how I wanted second year to turn out in this. A part of me also wanted to skip second and third year entirely and move on to fourth-year, since the Triwizard Tournament happens in it and I knew how I wanted the year to turn out out. I apologize again for not updating this fic in over a year and I promise to do my best to update this more frequently.

Word soon got out about the Slytherin team's new brooms, which was the cause of quite a bit of grumbling from the other three houses. The grumbling ended a week later, when Sirius, somehow having heard about this, came to Hogwarts at breakfast time and dropped a pile of tiny packages to the floor. He then took out his wand and unshrunk the packages, revealing them to all be broom-shaped. "Good morning, everyone!" he said loudly, in order to be heard over the curious whispers from the students. "It has come to my attention that a Slytherin alum has donated brooms to his house team. You all know about the rivalry that Slytherin and Gryffindor have, and as I am a Gryffindor alum, I decided the even things out. And in the interest of fairness, I decided to include Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff in this. So, I am donating twenty-one Nimbus Two Thousand Ones to the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw Quidditch teams. Could the members of the teams please step forward and take your brooms?"

Excited murmurs from three-quarters of the school broke out as twenty-one team members got up and went to get their brooms. The remaining one-quarter, which were Slytherins, did not look pleased to have their broom advantage taken away, and many of them muttered angrily. Sirius winked at Alex as he picked up one of the packages and smiled and waved away the thanks that the Quidditch players expressed before returning to their seats. "It was a pleasure to make this donation. Now, I have other matters to attend to today, so I must leave. Just show your gratitude by making good use of the brooms and kicking Slytherin's arse in your matches against them."

"Mr. Black!" exclaimed Professor McGonagall, looking scandalized. "You know better than to say something like that!"

Sirius merely grinned cheekily at her. "Oh come on, Minnie, you know that you want Gryffindor to beat Slytherin and win the Quidditch Cup. You made that clear when I was a student and a Beater on the Gryffindor team, and I know you haven't changed since then."

"My name is Minerva, not 'Minnie'," said Professor McGonagall sternly, though her lips twitched slightly. "If you were still my student, Sirius Black, I'd give you a detention."

"Well, I'm not, and thank Merlin for that. The detentions you assigned me were awful." Sirius then waved to Professor Dumbledore and the other Heads of House, who all returned the wave, except for Professor Snape, who looked very surly and simply gave a curt nod of acknowledgement. Sirius did not look perturbed by this, and merely grinned and waved to the entire student body before sweeping out the Great Hall.

The next day, at lunchtime, there was a disturbance at the Ravenclaw table. Outside of the Ravenclaw quintet, none of the other Ravenclaw first-years were accepting of Luna, and they, along with some of the older students, still made fun of Luna. Attempts to report them to Vera or Professor Flitwick only resulted in the entire quintet being targeted, not just Luna, and they always made sure not to do it in front of the staff or the prefects. Fred and George had stepped in with some pranks, but it hadn't stopped the teasing or bullying, and only resulted in the targets of the pranks insulting Ginny, and reporting the twins to Professor McGonagall, who had given them detention for the pranks and taken points from Ravenclaw for the bullying.

At the moment, Vera had an angry look on her face and appeared to be arguing with a sandy-haired boy in her year. Beth recognized the boy as the one that her cousin was currently dating. It soon became clear that Vera was upset with Larry Spencer over the fact that he hadn't tried to put a stop to the teasing of the Ravenclaw quintet earlier that morning. The argument soon escalated to Vera shouting, "How can you call Luna that!? She's a perfectly nice girl, even if she does have some strange beliefs! Her friends all like her, and I know her and like her too!"

"There's a reason over half of Ravenclaw calls her Loony Lovegood," retorted Larry. "She weird and crazy and I don't know how anyone can be her friend. She believes the rubbish that her father prints in _The Quibbler_ and says the oddest things. I don't see why you bother standing up for her."

"How dare you!" screeched Vera, as both Professors Flitwick and McGonagall got up from the staff table. "I thought you were nice, Larry Spencer, but clearly I was wrong about you! We're through! I don't ever want to talk to you again!" With that, she got up, apologized to the two professors for her outburst, and stalked out the Great Hall, leaving the rest of the student body to gape at her or whisper about the fight. Percy, looking extremely concerned, got up from the Gryffindor table and ran after his best friend, no doubt to try to calm her down and comfort her. His girlfriend, Penelope, looked up from the Ravenclaw table and frowned at this.

Later that day, on the way to dinner, Alex ran into Percy and Penelope, who were arguing. They took no notice of him as Percy tried to explain that Vera had been his best friend since they were toddlers and that it was natural that he'd want to console her, while Penelope argued that it made it look as if her boyfriend cared more about another girl. Alex sighed and continued on the Great Hall, as he noted Percy adding that Larry Spencer had been completely wrong for Vera and he just wanted to make sure that his _friend_ would get over the break-up. Alex had no idea what was said after that, as the two sat together at the Ravenclaw table during dinner, but judging by the fact that they got up and left the Great Hall holding hands and smiling at each other, they had made up.

After the disastrous first class, Lockhart had taken to reading passages from his books, and sometimes reenacted the more dramatic bits, calling on students to pretend to be a scared villager or the vampire or other dark being/creature he fought. As it was clear that they weren't going to be learning anything of use in Defense class, the Gryffindor quintet resumed learning proper Defense on their own in the Room of Requirement and coaching the Ravenclaw quintet, who often joined them in the sessions.

September passed into October, and soon it was Halloween. Alex woke before his dormmates and spent a few minutes thinking over the stories Remus, Sirius, and Professor Snape had told him about his biological parents. He dug out the photo album Remus had given him for Christmas last year, which was filled with pictures of his parents. Most had been donated by Remus and Professor Snape, but after Sirius had been released and informed about Alex's true identity, he had dug out photos he had of the Marauders and Lily and added them to the album. Alex flipped through the album and silently mourned for his biological parents. After awhile, he heard one of his dormmates stirring, so he got up to put the album away, thinking that he was grateful to his parents for their sacrifice and wishing that he could have gotten to know them, even though his life was good now.

On the way to the Halloween feast, Alex thought he heard a hissing voice say something about 'rip' and 'kill', but when he looked around, he couldn't find the source of the voice, and Beth and their friends all said that they hadn't heard anything. He dismissed it as his imagination and focused his attention on enjoying the feast.

However, after the feast, something happened to put a damper on the night's festivities. Mrs. Norris was found Petrified (though Filch had assumed his beloved cat to be dead until Professor Dumbledore examined her and pronounced otherwise), and above her on the wall, written in what seemed to be blood, were the words "THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE."

This caused a flurry of speculation as Professor Dumbledore assured Filch that Professor Snape would be able to brew a draught to restore Mrs. Norris once the mandrakes that Professor Sprout was raising had matured and Professor McGonagall ordered the students to their respective common rooms. The Gryffindor quintet knew from _Hogwarts, a History_ (though only Beth, Alex, and Hermione had actually read the entire book), that Salazar Slytherin had supposedly built a secret chamber at Hogwarts. Only he and his descendants had ever known the location of this secret chamber, if it even existed, and there supposedly was some sort of monster that Salazar Slytherin had left in it as guard.

The five gathered in a corner of the Gryffindor common room and discussed the incident in hushed whispers, wondering how Mrs. Norris had been Petrified and if the Chamber of Secrets really existed, and if so, who opened it and how.


End file.
